Darker Before the Dawn [PG-13, NDE]

[Deleted]

Thread Title: Darker Before the Dawn [PG-13, NDE]
Participants: Kazuko Shiba and Yoko Kusanagi
World: Human World
Death Setting: Non Death Enabled
Rating: PG-13
Location: A Hotel in Austin, Texas.
Special Conditions: Kazuko has a Limiter; it may be removed later on.
Circumstances: After a brief confrontation at a park, the Squad Nine Vice-Captain, Kazuko Shiba, has decided to take on the offer from the Chief of Security of Uzaki Enterprises, Yoko Kusanagi. Surveillance has narrowed down the location of the duo at a Hotel, nearby where both the Shinigami and Fullbringer originally met. A day or so later, after finding another excuse to get out on the field, the youth moves to confront the person who he feels shamed him. Kazuko has first post.

[Deleted]

Howling filled the air. Every gust of wind brought with it another surge of leaves and the occasional piece of trash. Despite the late hour, the city was filled with light – artificial, though it may be. Light posts, bastions against the darkness, lined every street and corner, with buildings, likewise, providing their own hues as well. However, for one reason or another, the streets were not packed with cars or people, as was usually common throughout the day; a few dozens cars or so at most would zoom by, but other than that, things were quiet. Maybe it was the late hour that had so few people out? Who knows? The strange thing though, that among the buildings that lined the street, there was only one that really stood out. It was a massive high-rise, built of mortar and amber brick that obviously conveyed grandeur and beauty; it was a beautiful hotel. Every floor had at least a few dozen windows that were filled with light, all except for the final and top floor. To any who had ever been fortunate enough to reserve a room at this exquisite Five-Star hotel, they would realize that that floor was in fact the largest, most expensive, and obviously the presidential suite, or penthouse of the establishment. The whole floor was the room. Yet, it was completely dark, despite the fact that some sort of eccentric millionaire, entourage and all, was supposedly taking up residence there for the time being.


For whatever reason, no one seemed to notice the lack of power on that entire floor; probably because whoever was supposed to be staying there was out somewhere. Who knew? Nonetheless, the elevators stilled worked, along with the ole-reliable stairs, so someone could always make it to that level if necessary. Upon entering the level, there were a few things, despite the darkness, that attracted the eye. The most obvious were the luxurious furniture pieces and appliances that filled a massive open space; there were large televisions, works of art, and other things that screamed wealth as well. Whoever lived there at the time must have been filthy-rich to be able to afford more than one night there. Still, the subtler, but still strange thing was that was odd about the dark and empty penthouse was that there were a few dozen butterflies floating around. If someone were experienced with the spiritual world, they would probably recognize these small harbingers as Hell Butterflies; each had a pair of soft violet wings, and midnight black bodies, and they all, for one reason or another, floated around with no particular purpose. It was almost as if they were waiting for something to come along. They had not been there hours before, but they were everywhere now, and they were only on that specific floor; quite strange indeed.


In what must have been the living room of the penthouse, lying on his back on one of the smaller sofas, was a relatively small shadow. Every so often, the subtle movement of the shadow indicated that it was alive, and breathing, apparently. Upon close inspection, it would become obvious that a big part of the reason why the figure was shrouded in darkness, despite obvious reason of the lack of power, was due to the utterly black robe that they wore. On the left arm of the figure, there was a dull, pentagonal piece of wood strapped to it with the insignia, that could barely be made out, of a “Nine” emblazoned on it. A long thin shaft, probably a katana of some kind, was left leaning against that very same sofa as well, scabbard and all. Obviously, it belonged to the person lying on the sofa, but that was a given. One of the many butterflies soon descended on his shoulder, and the figure paused for a second, taking note of something. “Yes, I understand. Things have been slow, but I have a feeling this lead might bring us somewhere. No, that won’t be necessary; trust me. If anything happens, I’ll see to it myself. Understood, I’ll make a report as soon as possible. Thank you.” The figure said, his voice young and bored. A few seconds later, he sighed; even making up a lie over something so simple left a bitter taste in his mouth. Still, everything had its reasons, and the youth, at least he thought, had a few good reasons for being there.


Some time passed, and the butterflies in the room began to flutter faster, as if disturbed by something. Two or three, in fact, landed on the figure, before picking up and off again. Without moving, the figure spoke up again, as if to answer some unseen disturbance. “You took long.” That was it: one vague statement. Through an open window, a majority of the butterflies flew outward, shimmering out of view in the vibrant moonlight just outside. Only a handful remained in the floor. “I shut off the power to this floor, as you can see, so that I could get you to return sooner. Since you’re Head of Security, something like this should ring a few bells after all. Not really sure if that worked or not, considering I did that a few naps ago.” It was likely that whoever had just arrived – as the figure was talking to somebody new – would recognize the voice that it belonged to. They might even tell that what the person had just said was a small, innocent joke. Still, it all depended on how well they could see in the dark and recognize voices, which was not really all too hard considering they had met just over a day ago. But that all depended on who exactly the boy was talking to, as that person had obviously just arrived.


“How has Kazura been?” The figure asked, transitioning into a sitting position on the sofa. Without looking up, he waved a few butterflies to the side, apparently ordering them somewhere. They flew past a few corners, out of sight. A minute passed, and the power came back on, sending lamps, chandeliers, and other such things ablaze. Kazuko Shiba, Vice-Captain of Squad Nine, was there sitting on the sofa, stretching his limbs out and stifling a yawn. His hair, usually combed back, was somewhat unruly, since he had been lying down for quite a while, but his uniform was well kept. On his waist, there two jugs, fastened tight, which swayed a bit with some unknown liquids. Whatever the person said, Kazuko would continue, his voice, a few degrees more flat, signifying that he was serious. "You remember what happened a night or so ago, Yoko? When you found me at that park?" His hand reached over and grabbed the zanpakuto, Gagoiru, which was at the side of the sofa. He laid it flat on the top of his legs. “You caught me off guard; no one was supposed to see that side of me… I'm not a little kid anymore.” He paused, looking down for a bit his cheeks a bit red, and looked up again, the moment passing. It was quite silly really; the Vice-Captain made a big deal of hiding his true self to his subordinates and others most of the time. There were, of course, a few exceptions to this rule of his. Sometimes, his emotions got the better of him, like at the park, and he ended up sharing more of himself than he should have. “Regardless, I came here tonight to take you up on your offer.”

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats/Skills}

Kazuko Shiba: Level 2, Spiritual Genius

Strength – [100] (50)
Speed – [400] Limiter: 240
Spiritual Pressure – [200] (400) Limiter: 240
Reiatsu Strength – [400] (800) Limiter: 480
Light Aura – [75]
Dark Aura – [25]
Instinct – [150]
Senses – [100]
Energy Sensory – [50] (150)
Healing Expertise – [0]

Total SP: 1400


Abilities

Weapons: Sword [3]
Hakuda [3]
Battle Analysis [3]
Mental Incantation [3]
Calm Mind [2]
Pain Tolerance [1]
Learning [1]

Total SKP: 16

[Deleted]

Ugh. Why were they still in Texas? It was hot, dry, and stupid. Most of the people here were unbearably ignorant. Yeah, Yoko wasn’t exactly a straight-A student, or even a regular presence at school back in those days, but she at least had her wits about her for something. She had spent this night, her night off, wandering around aimlessly through this barren waste of a city. Kazura could take care of himself just fine for one night, and her team had a decent eye on things. Sure, they couldn’t deal with any supernatural threats, but there weren’t enough of those to be worried about right now. And so Yoko got to partake in her old hobby of simply wandering around without any purpose in mind.

She was dressed fairly casually, not having bothered to throw on more than a white tanktop (men’s of course), a pair of jeans, and a hair tie for a quick ponytail before heading out. This left her metal arm exposed for all to see, and it drew plenty of comments. People all thought they were so clever, making their snide little comments under their breath. Yoko heard everything they said, but she tuned it out. She was the type that didn’t care what others thought of her. ”Freak.” ”Cripple.” ”Cyborg.” She’d heard them all before, a hundred times over. Such petty insults no longer bothered her, but it was still irritating to have to deal with that constantly. With these common folk taking up so much of her attention, she couldn’t even enjoy a peaceful walk in this town.

With that attempt at enjoying herself ruined, she decided to head back to the hotel for the night. By the time she made her way back, it had gotten fairly late, and the crowds had thinned out significantly. After checking the time on her phone, Yoko realized that was probably because it was nearly six in the morning. Damn jet lag… At this rate, the sun would be up fairly soon. Oh well, she wasn’t tired yet anyway. Something else was wrong though. Maybe it was just her current irritation causing her to assume the worst, but she’d noticed that all the lights in the penthouse suite were out. That was… odd. She’d definitely left her light on, and Kazura generally wasn’t the type to care enough about electricity bills to turn off a lamp. Besides, he was just as jet-lagged as she was most likely, so he was probably still out enjoying himself.

The fullbringer could have checked it out blindly, but Yoko opted for the more cautious approach. She pulled out her phone and placed a quick call in to the front desk. [smear:00ffff]”Room service for the penthouse suite please. Just a plate of waffles and syrup will do, but make it quick if you want a good tip, and don’t bother knocking.”[/smear:0000ff:1] Of course there would be no tip, unless Yoko was wrong about Kazura’s whereabouts, but it didn’t matter much. The plan was simple enough. The room service would serve as a simple distraction to allow her to sweep for threats. Sure, they could potentially get injured, but at the rates they were charging for this room, that seemed perfectly fair. Either way, Yoko waited a few minutes for them to whip up the food before she began her approach.

Slowly, she ascended the outside of the building through use of air ground. Like always, her reiatsu was suppressed and masked. Such a basic use of her powers didn’t require any noteworthy effort, and thus she was able to maintain her masked reiatsu while using the air ground. Once she got a bit closer, Yoko instantly realized that whoever was in there had made a few mistakes that made it clear they didn’t know who they were dealing with. They’d left several windows open, and that meant that Yoko could hear everything going on inside just fine. More importantly, her impressive sense of smell allowed her to get a good sense of whoever was present in the room. It didn’t take her long to figure that one out, as there was a distinct smell of earth present in the room. It was Kazuko.

She knew who it was, but it was hard to know why he was here for sure, and she was in a damn bad mood from her walk failing to be as restful as she hoped. That wasn’t a good set of facts for the Shinigami. Yoko was patient, despite her mood making her want to just bust in and take our her current irritation on Kazuko. She waited for the waiter to make his way up to the penthouse with his delivery, and sure enough, Kazuko bought the bait. When room service opened the door, he began to speak to them thinking that it was Yoko. With her reiatsu suppressed, and the lights out, it was hard to blame him for the mistake, but the look on his face when the lights came back on must have been priceless. All he saw was a waiter who was pissed off that he couldn’t find anyone to give him a tip.

Soon enough, the waiter left, and Yoko ceased masking her reiatsu. She’d heard enough to know Kazuko was looking for trouble. Yoko entered through one of the open windows to stand behind Kazuko, having already announced her presence with her reiatsu, and thus gotten Kazuko to continue his dialogue since his intended audience was actually there. [smear:00ffff]”Hopefully you’re better at fighting than you are at espionage. Don’t leave a window open next time, and always confirm your targets, kid."[/smear:0000ff:1] She’d already figured out that was his weak spot, and in her current mood, Yoko was going to push every button she could find on him. The fullbringer was in the mood to fight all out, and pissing off the Shinigami was probably the fastest way to ensure she got what she wanted. [smear:00ffff]”There’s not enough room here. I’ll be on the roof.”[/smear:0000ff:1] And without any further ado, Yoko made her way up to the massive roof of the hotel and waited for her opponent. Hopefully he wouldn’t disappoint her.

Reiatsu:1750/1750

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Skills}

Strength - [400(600)] Points

Speed - [200(300)] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [350(175)] Points

Reiatsu Strength - [50(25)] Points

Light Aura - [40] Points

Dark Aura - [60] Points

Instinct - [165] Points

Senses [235] Points

Energy sensory - [0] Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points


Total SP: [1400]

• [Martial Art: Kunlun] {2}
  
  
• [Weapon: Sword {3}
  
  
• [Pain Tolerance] {2}
  
  
• [Battle Analysis] {2}
  
  
• [Calm Mind] {2}
  
  
• [Anti-Stealth] {3}
  
  
• [Weapon:Guns] {1}
  

[Deleted]

Hmm, she seems quiet… maybe I should have tried calling ahead? Wait... I don't even have a phone, or her number... Kazuko had heard the door open a little while ago, without so much of a knock, and waited as the foot steps grew closer. All the while, he finished what he had to say, and the next part had his nerves on fire and his hands a bit fidgety. For that reason, he had repositioned his body on the sofa, with his zanpakuto on his lap, in the hopes of distracting himself; it made him feel a bit more secure knowing he had a weapon on him, despite the occasion. Besides, Yoko seemed like the type of woman who might come off as hostile if provoked, and that was the last thing he wanted out of that night. The Vice-Captain took a deep breath, his heart racing within his chest, like the trample of a stampede on the loose. Why did he have to be so nervous of all times? He had made up his mind beforehand, but still, making up your mind and actually going through with it were two very different things. Still, he had come this far, what with the lying to his superiors and the excuse of coming to spar or "cut loose" as she had called it; the least he could do was tell her how he really felt about her. Darn… I should have watched a bit more television on how human guys do this stuff; or maybe brought a car. I think that works too. Oh! But its too late for that now.


He took a moment to think of what he had to say, and said, his voice a bit on edge and his eyes still down, “Yoko… I have to tell you something. Its hard for me to say this, but I have to try at least… the truth is… the reason I came here tonight… its not to have a spar or anything like that. The real reason I’m here, is to tell you that I like…” A platter filled with waffles clattered onto the table top nearby. “Waffles are here, sir,” a stranger said, cleanly dressed in a hotel uniform, interrupting Kazuko before he could finish and startling him. He jumped up from his seat, his face red, but soon realized that this person was some sort of hotel worker right after he left the room, completely oblivious to anything he or anyone said in that hotel room. “What the hell!” Kazuko stammered, dumbfounded. He turned around, recognizing Yoko’s voice in the window he had left open for the Hell Butterflies to come in through along with himself. She was dressed rather simply – though, that could be due to how late it was – and she did not appear to be in too good of a mood. But likewise, now, Kazuko had his cheeks on fire, and his chest puffed out, unconsciously, his temper rearing its ugly head. Without so much as a hello, or anything close to that, she flew straight up, likely to the roof, leaving the youth there to contemplate what he saw in that woman anyway.


“Oh, come on! How can she be so unbearable? I just want to talk!" The Vice-Captain said, his voice irritated, and his hands in fists. It was quite funny really; he was getting angry over something that others often commented him of acting like when he did not get his way. He thought he outgrew that already. Kazuko had a record for acting childish when the cards were down, and this might have been one of them. Without wasting any time, the youth stomped off, brought his body over the window, and then jumped off, plates of reiatsu forming at his feet as he did so. He ascended; taking a completely vertical route upward, wind rushing by as he did so. Like his mood, the weather seemed to be just as frigid and rough. The wind kept ruffling up his air, and his cheeks were burning in the cold night air. Darn it! Nothing ever works out like I want it to! He flew over the top of the building, landing on the roof with an audible poof; all the while, he held his zanpakuto within his scabbard in his left hand. He might as well have been an open book with how disheveled his whole attitude was. On the one hand, he wanted to come clean with his feelings; on the other, she was already being difficult. He should have gone with the car!


“Yoko…” Kazuko muttered to himself, trying to figure out what he would do. Fight, or talk? Which would be the better route? Maybe they were the same? Maybe… I can try again. There’s no one here to ruin the moment with waffles, so I have that going for me… I think. A few deliberately slowed breaths later, the Vice-Captain tried to speak again, making sure to suppress his foul mood. “I came here to talk to you, Yoko. I need to get something off my chest…” He offered, trying his best to make a smile. Was he forcing it? Was there something in his teeth? Too many questions, too little time; why were things like this so hard? Though, the Vice-Captain might have underestimated just how upset Yoko was at the moment. He had no idea whether she would bother listening to what he had to say, or just go straight for the kill. Even so, Kazuko had come way too far to fail now, not when she was right in front of him, staring him down, making him feel both angry and happy at the same time. Was that even possible? God, he wished he were taller; maybe that would have made things easier. Women liked that sort of thing, he remembered overhearing his Captain talk about women once and mention height. Or did he read that somewhere? Oh god, he was hopeless!


Remaining Reiatsu: 2400/2400

Combat Posts: 0/8

[Deleted]

Most animals could only dream of having senses as sharp as Yoko’s. Her sense of hearing was easily sharp enough to pick up every word Kazuko had said, but she was rather perplexed. Why had he come this entire way just to chat with her? There were thousands of Shinigami weren’t there? Yoko simply couldn’t see the point in coming all this way to talk about video games… or whatever else he was going to finish that sentence with. As romantically oblivious as Yoko was, the idea that she was what Kazuko liked wasn’t even something she considered. They’d met once, for all of five minutes, and it hadn’t seemed like a very friendly encounter. Should Kazuko have finished that sentence, Yoko’s brain might have broken from hearing something that seemed so absurd. Either way, it didn’t matter that he wasn’t here for a spar. That’s what her offer had been, and that’s what he was getting. No, no, spar wasn’t the right word. They were going to fight with no holds barred.

Her plan had worked unexpectedly well though. She really had hoped for only a momentary distraction from the waiter, but instead she had gotten Kazuko incredibly flustered, and gotten a good bit of information out of him. As much as she didn’t like it, fact gathering was part of her job. She had to maintain files on every possible threat to Uzaki Enterprises, as well as Kazura himself. Kazuko was a potential threat. It was unlikely he would ever attack, but in the event he did, Yoko would be ready. Any remotely useful scrap of information he revealed would wind up in the file on him, or possibly in the general files about Shinigami. Either way, keeping him talking was in her interest. There was always the chance that he’d reveal some vital piece of information that could be the difference between life and death down the road. Even something as sleight as the name of a technique could be remembered and used against some Shinigami down the road. Hopefully it would never be needed, but this was why Yoko had made the offer in the first place. Everything she could learn about the Shinigami was beneficial knowledge.

Unfortunately, Yoko had already begun to head towards the roof before Kazuko complained about just wanting to talk. Oh well, it didn’t matter much. They could talk on the roof just as easily, and there was less of a chance of being interrupted by hotel staff or Kazura’s eventual return. Once up on the roof, Yoko took a seat on one of the air conditioning units that were scattered about. It was from there that she listened as Kazuko tried once again to express his feelings. In her eyes, it was fairly clear that he was embarrassed and a bit upset… but he had tried to force a smile. Was he simply upset about the whole waiter thing? Sure, that could be it… and Yoko figured she might as well clear that up now. It was a standard trick in her book, so it’s not like there was any disrespect intended. Heck, she didn’t even know Kazuko was the one who was up there until after she’d already called in the room service.

[smear:00ffff]”Oh, is this about the room service thing? It’s not like that was anything personal. You cut the power to the floor, and that’s generally the kind of thing that a terrorist does. [/smear:0000ff:1][smear:00ffff] I was still outside when I noticed it. In the end, it was safer to call room service to check it out first. They’ve got a few cameras set up in the hallway and the elevator, so they would’ve spotted any earthly threats that had made it in, [/smear:0000ff:1][smear:00ffff]and I figured anything otherworldly wouldn’t have cared about a random human waiter enough to harm them. Since they agreed to send up the food, and didn’t mention any security breaches, [/smear:0000ff:1][smear:00ffff]that meant the threat was spiritual. Once that was figured out, I headed up while using the waiter as a distraction. In the end, I caught your smell on the wind, and it was an unnecessary [/smear:0000ff:1][smear:00ffff]distraction, but I’d rather play it safe when it could just have easily been 100 terrorists armed to the teeth inside that room.

That answer your question?”[/smear:0000ff:1]

That “answer” if you could call it that, might help Kazuko relax a little bit. There was absolutely zero intention on Yoko’s part to embarrass him with the whole waffles thing. Granted, she had called him a kid, but that was just to try and get him riled up for the fight. There wasn’t really an ill intent behind that. Maybe, just maybe, that would get him back in a mood to confess to Yoko. Despite coming off as rather cold at first, she actually wasn’t trying to be that mean to him. On top of that, despite the rather plain attire, she wore it well. Yoko was on Kazura’s payroll, which meant she had more money than she knew what to do with. Just because she could, she’d gotten all of her stuff tailored. Did she care about fashion? Not a bit, but she liked things to fit well. In the case of an outfit like this, that meant her fairly modest curves were highlighted quite well. The jeans and tanktop both clung tightly against her body, leaving very little to the imagination. If any part of Kazuko’s crush was based on physical attraction, that wasn’t going to be ruined by this outfit. The only question left was whether or not those factors were enough to get him to confess, or if he was just going to chicken out and move on to the fight.

Reiatsu:1750/1750

[Deleted]

On the roof, in response to his obvious unruliness, Yoko thought it fitting to interject and try to settle whatever she thought was plaguing his mind. It was admirable that she thought it prudent to put to rest any lingering animosity between them, however, the opposite was in fact the case. It was quite ironic really – or funny – that she could not tell that the real reason he was acting so flustered and embarrassed was due in no small part to her. In fact, it was surprising that she had not noticed yet all the obvious signs of affection from the youth, given the situation. He was fidgety and obviously uncomfortable with the whole mess of things, on top of a few other details. A few times through her clarification, for example, the youth found his eyes lingering on her figure, and he had to avert his eyes and look down, abashed. He was not too good with this whole girl thing – err, not good at all would be more apt. Still, she was still something beautiful. In the light of the moon, she came off as radiant, or at least in his eyes, despite however drab she might think of her attire. Nonetheless, once Yoko had finished, he did not appear to look to have gotten anything from that other than a slight look of confusion. Instead, Kazuko appeared to have taken some offence from the interjection. Did she really think he was upset over a plate of waffles?


In reality, the whole affair in the penthouse below did not disturb the Vice-Captain all that much. He had basically waltzed into the current residence of Kazura, someone who had to be well protected, he had met nothing in terms of resistance. The Hell Butterflies knocked out the power with little opposition, in fact. Then again, to any being other than the spiritually aware, he and they were invisible, so that was probably a big reason why. Still, he had expected some sort of opposition or security, and gotten it. Luckily for Kazuko, that opposition came in the form of the Head of Security, Yoko. Ever since their encounter a few nights prior, the youth had found it odd that he could not dismiss the feeling at the pit of his stomach. Stranger, was that he was incapable of doing any sort of paperwork with her face continually running through his mind back at his office in Squad Nine. Maybe it was her appearance that had him so wound up? Then again, the youth, despite his age, had encountered a few woman who were, in their own ways, beautiful as well. However, in most cases, they were met while on the line of duty. So maybe that was it? Yoko had seen him when he was most vulnerable emotionally. It was not everyday when Kazuko got to drop the whole “serious, stuck-up, big-boy” act back in the Gotei. While most people probably would have laughed at how ridiculous he seemed, trying to maintain some form of innocence when he was in the military and all, she had not. So maybe that was the reason why he was going through so much trouble?


For whatever reason, she still remained on his mind, and he had had to arrange another excursion into the Land of the Living to finally quiet and dispel his thoughts. The venture, of course, had come at a price; again, he had to make up some reason why a Vice-Captain would bother heading out into the other world so soon rather than send someone else in thier place. Of course, he had made up some lie about gathering “valuable” Intel and the sort over at some hotspot of spiritual activity. Fortunately, Kazuko had pieced a story together that seemed reasonable enough, and he got his ticket to open the Senkaimon. Despite the prospect of having to do a mountain of field reports when he returned, the youth, in his hormonal state, nonetheless felt justified in returning her invitation. Though, she might not be as willing to return what he had to say to her in the long run. Still, he had to try, and that was what important in this case. That he at least tried to express his feelings to someone other than keep them cooped up and suppressed like he did with most of his emotions. The youth, unfortunately, had an awful habit of supressing things like his fears and other such things when confronted when an emotionally compromising position.


“What happened back in the room has nothing to do with this… it has more to do with you.” He said, trying to give her a hint, but soon found himself regretting saying even that much. Was he going about this all wrong? Probably, but that did little to make him feel any better. He didn't have much in terms of a golden opportunity or a break after all with Yoko. Though, he sort of liked her personality, despite how irritating it could be. A few seconds passed, where the Vice-Captain did not really know how to continue from there. Maybe I should just get out of here? Save us both the trouble. It looked as if the youth might well just leave the place before he did something he would regret; or worse, ruin his chances with the woman. However, soon, a thought amidst the storm within him ventured forth, and his mood instantly picked up. That… that might work; if she’s anything like Kazura, I might be able to pull this thing off. Kazuko thought, a small sense of confidence returning to him with the whole notion. Now, at least, he had a plan that may, if he played things right, turn out into something other than an emotional ass-kicking. Maybe. First thing was first, and the youth needed to play his first hand, and see how that went.


“Yoko, the truth is… I came here, because…” He mustered the brunt of his confidence, made sure to lock his eyes with heres, and finished, “I like you.” Again, he paused, so as to let the moment kick in, and then continued, “I mean, not as in like, but in like you, as more than a friend,” Kazuko said, sheepishly, trying his best to express how he felt on the inside. His cheeks were red, and his eyes, although optimistic, were hesitant to meet hers after the confession. In his mind, there were a few ways how this whole scenario would play out, most of which did not end well for him or his body. Of these, of course, there was outright rejection, but he had a plan for how he would deal with that; not that it would be easy by any stretch of the imagination or his optimism, but it still gave him some measure of hope. Though, he would probably have to play things sneakily, it was not much of an issue with him, however. The Vice-Captain was determined to handle things in his own way. The only question, however, would be if the woman took this confession well or not.


Remaining Reiatsu: 2400/2400

Combat Posts: 0/8

[Deleted]

Embarrassment. It was an oddly human emotion for a Shinigami to be feeling, but it was there plain as day on Kazuko’s face. There Yoko was, droning on about counter-terrorism tactics, and it was so obvious in hindsight. The more she spoke, the redder that Kazuko’s face grew. Why did I think a glorified samurai would know anything about counter-terrorism? Initially, Yoko had treated Kauzko as an equal in every respect. Not once had she ever mocked his capabilities as a soldier, nor had she boasted of superior strength to him. She had even extended an offer of combat to him so that they could determine which of them truly was stronger. It was not a request for tutelage, nor was it an offer to train him. That truly meant she saw Kazuko as an equal… but he was not. Perhaps they were equal in combat effectiveness, but each had their own specialties. Yoko had modern knowledge and technology on her side, whereas Kazuko had the aid of supernatural magic.

No doubt this key difference in capacity had caused Kazuko’s embarrassment. Yoko had been speaking about her plans as if they were nothing out of the ordinary… because they weren’t. To her, the entire exercise so far, sans finding a Shinigami, was routine. It was a fairly basic plan, and there wasn’t even a body count. Operations like this were child’s play to her, but it seemed that Kazuko had a much different view of it. He was a regular soldier from a bygone era where swords were the weapon of choice. Yes, Yoko was a master of the blade as well, but she blended that with her modern knowledge of tactics. It seemed that Kazuko’s knowledge matched his weapon all too much. Counter-terrorism style tactics must not have caught on in Soul Society yet, or at least not enough that those outside some specialized squad were familiar with them. The poor boy must have been so embarrassed when he couldn’t understand that.

Or so Yoko had thought. Kazuko destroyed that train of thought rather quickly. “What happened back in the room has nothing to do with this… it has more to do with you.” While the Shinigami’s tone wasn’t inherently threatening, Yoko was mentally preparing for the worst. He was visibly armed, and she was casually sitting around. The Shinigami had been invited here for a fight, and now he had flat out said that the matter at hand had to do with Yoko. He wasn’t just here to exchange pleasantries… and Yoko began to fear that the fight wasn’t going to be on friendly terms any longer. Unconsciously, her left hand slid towards her back pocket to grip her NERV ID Card, the sealed form of her fullbring. At the same time, her legs shifted slightly so that they were firmly planted against the side of the AC unit she was sitting on. If it came down to it, her now tense body was ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.

But that was not needed. Once more Kazuko spoke up to clear the confusion about what he had said. “Yoko, the truth is… I came here, because… I like you. I mean, not as in like, but in like you, as more than a friend.” And just like that, Yoko was broken. Out of everything in Kazuko’s arsenal, not even the yet undiscovered final form of his release was a more effective assault against Yoko. With those words, he had temporarily destroyed her ability to comprehend what was happening. For many moments, she simply sat there on the AC unit completely motionless. She did not blink, nor did she even draw a breath. It was really only a handful of seconds, but to the nervous Shinigami and the confused fullbringer, the moment seemed to last for an eternity.

This reaction was to be expected from the fullbringer. Yoko was completely and utterly aromantic. Sure, she thought about sex from time to time, but ideas like “liking” someone were basically foreign to her. She’d seen it in plenty of anime, and she understood the concepts just fine, but it was just something she couldn’t wrap her head around as a part of her life. Between her bouts of moving around, delinquent tomboy attitude, and then her paramilitary work, she’d never been able to even think about something like that. Since she had never even considered that, someone like Kazuko confessing to her had immeasurable shock value. He was practically a kid. He was a Shinigami. They had just met. The list of reasons it made no sense went on and on, but it had still been said, and there was nothing that could change that. Just the same, there was nothing that could change the fact that Kazuko had just confessed he was infatuated with Yoko.

It took the chief of security a few moments to recover from that statement blindsiding her, but it only made her stronger in the end. Yoko always was one to like power, and Kazuko had just given her a type of power she had never had before. She didn’t even need to try, and she could bend Kazuko to her will. All that was required was that she fed his desire to be with her. No. That’s too low. Her original plan, one of manipulation, was quickly discarded. Yes, Yoko was supposed to learn everything she could about the Shinigami through any means necessary… but not like that. Deep down in her core, she still had a sense of justice. Pulling on the heartstrings of a teen to suck information out of him disgusted Yoko, and she was ashamed of having even considered it for a moment.

Instead, she actually gave the topic some thought. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of reasons that a relationship between a Shinigami and a Fullbringer would never work. But what the hell. That didn’t mean she couldn’t hook up with him once or twice… if he was 18. Seriously, Yoko was going to have to ID Kazuko or something. The last thing she wanted was to piss off an entire army because she did something that was technically considered rape. Wait, didn’t Shinigami live for hundreds of years or something? How old was Kazuko anyway? It had only dawned on Yoko at that moment, but Kazuko could easily be ten times as old as she was, if not even older. So much about this situation was bizarre. Yoko’s head had begun to ache just from trying to think about this, so she simply stopped thinking. She did what she always did when she was at a loss, and just went with her gut.

[smear:00ffff]”I…can’t really give you an adequate response right now. I had invited you out here to fight, and that’s what I’m in the mood for right now. I’ve been dealing with a bunch of ignorant Americans all day, and I really[/smear:0000ff:1][smear:00ffff] need to blow off some steam right now. So here’s the deal. You beat me in a fight, and you get a kiss. If I win, you have to answer my questions about the spiritual world… but I’ll probably let you get out of answering anything top secret. Sound fair?”[/smear:0000ff:1] Of course Yoko waited for a response, but she already knew what to expect. She’d just told a boy that liked her that he was going to do something, and so she was willing to bet every game she owned that Kazuko was willing to fight her now. If the offer of a kiss wasn’t enough to get him all riled up, then apparently Yoko was just as clueless about Kazuko as the Shinigami was about Yoko.

Reiatsu:1750/1750

[Deleted]

Kazuko’s confession, surprisingly, left Yoko quiet – in complete and utter shock actually – for some time. During which, the Vice-Captain did not really know how to continue or build on what he had just said. Oh, no… she hates me now. He thought, realizing that he may have jumped the gun too soon. Beforehand, it had seemed like the right ‘move’ to do, but now… he just was not sure anymore. Maybe he should have asked his Captain for advise after all instead of setting out with nothing but childish confidence to back him? Well, so much for all that confidence. As it were, he was a mass of nerves and panic, thinking to himself just how she would respond to his openness. Her response kept him on his toes, metaphorically speaking. Yoko did not seem… angry, but she did not look too happy about it either. She just sat there, not really doing much other than make Kazuko feel like he messed everything up. It was quite a testing time for both of them, it would appear. Fortunately, however, she did eventually snap out of her stupor, putting an end to the awkward silence that had overtaken them after his confession. Though, he did not exactly get the answer he was hoping for either, and instead got something a bit ambiguous.


[smear:00ffff]”I…can’t really give you an adequate response right now. I had invited you out here to fight, and that’s what I’m in the mood for right now. I’ve been dealing with a bunch of ignorant Americans all day, and I really[/smear:0000ff:1][smear:00ffff] need to blow off some steam right now. So here’s the deal. You beat me in a fight, and you get a kiss. If I win, you have to answer my questions about the spiritual world… but I’ll probably let you get out of answering anything top secret. Sound fair?”[/smear:0000ff:1] She told the youth. Kazuko, quite frankly, did not know exactly how to take this. Was this a cleverly wrapped rejection? She had said that only if he won, would he get anything close to a reward from his confession. Besides, there was no guarantee whether she would even bother pursuing a relationship with him if he even won at that. She might just blow him off later or give him some excuse. On the contrary, if he lost, he would have to divulge more information than he already had to both her and her superior. Obviously, giving up valuable information about the organization that someone worked for was not a comfortable topic. For a few moments, his mind was split between to stark decisions. Should he just leave and cut his losses, or would he continue and play right into her hands? Both options did not really have much legroom for him to get away with.


Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how he saw it later, his hormones made the decision for him, overruling the mandates of his training and personalty. His stomach, already doing summersaults along with his heart, mirrored his body and the layout of his thoughts. A few seconds after her offer had been made, Kazuko, thinking nothing other than the kiss, made up his mind. The hormones within him had made their attack and overwhelmed whatever bastion of logic was left within his head. Yoko was too much to pass up, and he was too inexperienced to know anybetter. Slowly, his face beamed an answer before his mouth even opened to speak. “Deal.” He said enthusiastically. Quite frankly, the Vice-Captain was enraptured with the thought of kissing her. He could think nothing but of winning for that one goal. No, there would be no choice, then. His hand ventured into the fold of his robe, rummaging through his chest pocket, and he pulled a small tic-tac box from within the folds. “If winning is the only way I get to kiss you… I guess its only fair I fight you without my Limiter.” Overall, Kazuko sounded optimistic and quite cheerful; Yoko was a strong opponent, no doubt, but she was also the object of his affection, and Kazuko would do anything to make sure he got her.


The Vice-Captain, opened the small case, and retrieved from within what looked like a white breath mint. He put the mint-like thing in his mouth, and with a crunch broke it with his teeth. Damn it… I told them to make it sweet; the thing is bitter as hell. Oh well, gues there's no helping it. The youth complained. Almost immediately, he felt the chains that bound his soul slacken, giving weight to whatever key was held within the mint. Right after, there was a surge of reiatsu that escaped his body, causing a wave of air to push out from all around him, before it all slowly trickled back in, forming a veil of gray around him. Even with no sensory, Yoko would still be able to feel that Kazuko was excerting much more power than he had ever shown before. “You have no idea how annoying it to have your power capped for days on end. It feels, sort of uplifting, you know?” Already, the Vice-Captain could feel the heaviness of his own spiritual force weighing down on his small body, crushing him. Over the months, his pressure had intensified faster than his body could acclimate, and it bore on his stamina greatly. “Prepare yourself.” He said, making note to lose some of his cheerfulness and let her know it was serious/fun time. The Vice-Captain was sure that Yoko was powerful, or he would have otherwise kept his Limiter on, despite the wager, if he did not think so. Still, the trick was managing how far he was willing to go with his attacks against what he thought she could handle. But he was over thinking things. If she worked for Kazura, as his Head of Security, she could probably dish out a whole lot of damage.


Whatever Yoko chose to do in this timeframe, it would likely be prudent for her to prepare herself lest she fail to react soon enough for the match. Immediately after giving his warning, a surge of electricity manifested itself in his palm; the mass grew brighter in both intensity and light, until it wrapped around his entire forearm with tendrils of light. He grinned a bit as he molded the reiatsu expertly within his soul. With one fluid movement, the Vice-Captain released the mass of electricity, letting it expand to a great size as it left his hand, and broke off into a blur. The youth had mentally fired, Hado #63: Raikoho, incantation and all. The spell had a Reiatsu Strength of 1000; so obviously, trying to defend against the huge mass of thunder would be ill-advised – incineration, after all, was not a good thing to deal with. Thus, Yoko, if she could, would likely have to resort with the option of retreat or evasion. She would have to move fast, however, to avoid any unwanted backlash of elecricity and heat. The spell would borrow a path across the concrete of the roof, charring everything that it came close with, until it would break through to the other side and off into the open sky. The Vice-Captain, of course, was always careful to make too much collateral damage if and when he could.


Whatever mode of counter she chose, Kazuko had nonetheless already acted as well. The youth spanned the distance between them in a few moments, his zanpakuto being drawn from its scabbard as he moved. Strange, however, would be the red outline along the blade of the boy. The Vice-Captain bore his blade in a vertical grip, slightly overhead, one finger pointed up against the steel; with the entire weapon coming down in a clean stroke once he reached her position, slightly above her. After he had fired off the Raikoho, and during his movement, the youth had prepared a second spell Hado #31: Shakkaho, on the way there. The red mass of reiatsu, vibrant in its intensity and heat, came off as one massive wave of power as he swung his zanpakuto downward. Normally, when fired, Shakkaho came off as an orb; however, the Vice-Captain had channel and fired the spell along the length of his blade, using it as means to spread what was normally house-sized  in size into a larger surface area. This alone, would be troublesome, as Yoko had just reacted to the previous spell and might not have realized, what with the previous spell blocking her view, that the Vice-Captain had even moved.


If she chose to dodge, doing so would come off as problem even for the remarkable woman. With the previous spell, the Vice-Captain had fired it, incantation already finished mentally, and thus its size was already estimated and defined upon its release. This time, there would be a problem when/if Yoko tried to maneuver around the wave of reiatsu. After the spell had been fired, the Vice-Captain used Kōjutsu Eishō – an incantation after the spell – which meant that its size would increase just as its would power. Now, the dilemma would be outmaneuvering the spell as it grew larger and more powerful in its flight. All and all, the Vice-Captain had opted to use two of his lesser used variety of spells in the hopes of preparing Yoko for what was ahead. Kazuko had more to offer obviously, but he did not want to outright kill the woman he liked by going above what she could handle. Though, whether or not Yoko could tell in the heat of battle, there was a small grin etched on his face. The youth was planning something, but it was not quite certain what in fact he had in mind. As it was, only time would tell as their battle progessed what he had in store. "I hope Kazura can pay for the damages," he called out to his opponent.


Remaining Reiatsu: 3750/4000 (-150 for Raikoho, -100 for Shakkaho)

Combat Posts: 1/8

Short Term Stat Boosts (Incantations): 2/6

RS of Raikoho: 1000

RS of Shakkaho: 960

[Deleted]

“Deal.”

That was exactly what Yoko wanted to hear. As she had said, she was in the mood to fight, but she hadn’t been entirely truthful with her offer. Yeah, she’d probably give him a kiss if he managed to earn it, but she had implied she was interested in Kazuko in that way, at least a little bit. Thus far, that wasn’t really the case. He was kinda cute… in a little brother way. Yoko wasn’t really the type to care too much about physical attractiveness though. Sure, if you were hideous then she wouldn’t really want to sleep with you, but attraction was something very different for her. She was attracted to those who could give her a challenge. Like, just for an example, she’d probably sleep with Kazura, but not because he’s a fairly attractive billionaire playboy. No, she had an interest in him because he had the ability to challenge her intellectually.

With that explained, Yoko’s offer made a lot more sense. Right now, she wasn’t interested in Kazuko beyond having someone to fight, but that fight was an opportunity for the Shinigami to show he was someone worth desiring. If he could beat Yoko soundly, or even if they simply fought to a draw, then that meant the Shinigami was someone who could provide the Fullbringer with a satisfying challenge. In the event that he managed one of those outcomes, he would instantly become attractive to Yoko. She knew this, and that’s why she didn’t have any issues offering up a kiss as a prize. If Kazuko actually earned it, she’d want to give it to him. On the other hand, if Kazuko couldn’t even pressure her in combat, then her interest in him was simply as a source of information and nothing more. She’d probably get that information either way though. If she had Kazuko wrapped around her finger this tightly, he’d probably be willing to talk if she just gave him what he wanted.

It seemed that Kauzko was fairly eager to earn Yoko’s respect though. “If winning is the only way I get to kiss you… I guess it’s only fair I fight you without my Limiter.” The Fullbringer wasn’t exactly pleased that her opponent only seemed to be fighting for the reward, and not for the sake of enjoying a good fight, but she’d take what she could get. She didn’t know the exact specs of the limiter, but the name alone made the effect obvious. Even if they called it something like a “vorplex power inverter” or something equally nonsensical, Yoko would have figured out the effect fairly fast. The change in power was immediately obvious, even without the ability to sense energy. There was a visible aura around Kazuko without his limiter, and it was clear that he wasn’t going to hold back in this fight. Sure, Yoko had hoped that they could start off with a little hand to hand or swordplay to feel each other out, but flooring it on the first move wasn’t bad either.

Ever the chatty one, Kazuko continued his small-talk. “You have no idea how annoying it to have your power capped for days on end. It feels, sort of uplifting, you know?” Oh boy, did Yoko ever know how that felt. Honestly, she probably put Kazuko to shame in that department. Her power was almost always suppressed. To date, she had never gotten the chance to fight someone without holding back, at least not since she had attained this newest level of power. Most of her bouts were just as simple as taking out the trash, like when she disabled the goons at the meeting with Valence Technology a few days ago. Most of the people who attacked Kazura were ignorant of the spiritual world, and thus could do nothing to even consider injuring Yoko. Sure, there were a few who were stronger than her at some point, but her power had grown a great deal in the last several years. This was going to be a good chance to go all out it seemed.

She hopped off the air conditioning unit that she had been perched on, but she’d already sent a bit of a message before she even opened her lips to respond to Kazuko. There were a pair of dents in the machine where Yoko had used her hands to push off of it, and the surface had cracked and shaken when she landed. There was nothing magical about it either. She simply had stopped holding back her physical strength. That was truly why she understood what Kazuko was talking about. Her strength was monstrous compared to normal humans. She could do the kinds of things that were normally only seen in heroic comics, and that was without using her special powers. Her body was simply strong enough that she could do things like stop a speeding car with one hand. When you’re that strong, holding back your physical strength is essential if you don’t want to accidentally destroy the world around you.

[smear:00ffff]”Yeah… I know the feeling pretty well actually.”[/smear:0000ff:1] Yoko had said that much, and the little hints she’d left Kazuko might be enough for him to figure out why she had said that. Casually denting a hunk of metal wasn’t exactly something that normal humans could do after all. Either way, it seemed it was about time for the fight to begin.“Prepare yourself.” Kazuko’s tone had lost his earlier eagerness, and that change got a satisfied smirk out of the Fullbringer. It seemed like he actually was going to try to take this seriously, and that meant Yoko ought to do the same. There were a few options for how seriously she could take the fight, and she only went a single step below 100% tryhard mode. Before she could unveil the choice that made it clear she was actually trying hard, she had to prepare first.

Yoko raised a single finger to Kazuko in a gesture that indicated she needed a minute. Before she could bring out the main course, a change of attire was called for. Yeah, she could fight in this if she wanted to, but even the best tailored jeans weren’t ideal. Luckily, this didn’t mean Kazuko had to wait too long. Yoko was a fan of anime at her core, and her fullbrings reflected that quite a bit. Her secondary fullbring came complete with a Sailor Moon style transformation sequence, sans the background music and graphics. There was a quick spin to face away from Kazuko for modesty’s sake… and then her top and pants vanished. Yeah, there was still a pair of boyshorts and a sports bra covering her up, but for that one moment, Kazuko was probably bright red. Quickly enough, the necklace she had been wearing broke out into crimson reishi that swarmed around her, covering her body almost completely. The only thing missing was a something to cover her head. Shortly thereafter, the reishi solidified into a skintight, probably latex, bodysuit. The transformation had left nearly nothing to the imagination, but the suit itself wasn’t much better off in that regard.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Outfit Reference}

Music!

Once that part was done, she spun back around to face Kazuko with an incredibly smug grin on her face. She wasn’t exactly a master seductress, but she knew that had probably riled Kazuko up quite a bit. With that part out of the way, it was time for the important part of her preparation. Her choice to give it her all was made clear by only a single word. [smear:00ffff]”Aegis.”[/smear:0000ff:1] That sole word, nearly whispered, was the name of her second stage of release, and that word alone was all it took to release it. There wasn’t a great flare of reiatsu, but rather just a calm and steady flow of golden energy that slowly encased her, just as the form of her secondary fullbring had done a moment ago. This time though, her clothes didn’t vanish, and her head was covered. The time for flirting was done, and now Yoko had donned her armor for this battle.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stage 2 Fullbring Reference: Currently the one on the Right}

Despite there being no explosion of reiatsu, it didn’t mean that this wasn’t a serious power. This was her Stage Two Fullbring. It was a level of power said to rival that of a Shinigami’s Bankai, and the serious vibe emanating from Yoko made it clear she wasn’t going to hold back that power even a little bit. It wasn’t just armor though. She was armed to the teeth. A shield was mounted on her left forearm. It was rather small at that moment, but a mental command could make it expand to a full tower shield instantly. Both hands were currently empty, but a pistol was visible on her right hip, and an easily recognizable sword, but no sheath, was on her left hip. On the back of her armor was a battle rifle that was fairly hard to distinguish if one wasn’t familiar with German weaponry. All in all, she had enough firepower visible to take down whatever Kazuko threw at her.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Sword Reference}

A quick nod signaled that Yoko was ready to begin, and Kazuko took the first attack quickly enough. A surge of electricity crackled around his arm, and Yoko figured out what was coming right away. She didn’t know the name of the spell or anything like that, but figuring out that a bunch of electricity was going to turn into some kind of energy blast wasn’t exactly rocket science. It probably would have been smarter if Yoko opted to dodge it, but she decided to stand her ground instead. She was curious just how much power Kazuko could pull out, and whether or not her shield could stand up to it. As Kazuko released the blast of reiatsu, Yoko simply turned so that her left side faced the Shinigami and let her shield expand to the full tower shield size. Like that, it was large enough to completely cover her rather petite frame easily.

Likewise, the shield was strong enough to keep her safe from the blast. At first it seemed that the difference in power was great enough that the blast of electricity hadn’t even charred the shield, but when Yoko attempted to return the shield to buckler size… it simply crumbled. This is gonna be fun. It seemed that Kazuko was strong enough to actually pose a threat, but not so strong that he could completely bypass Yoko’s defenses. That was good to know, but it wasn’t the only pertinent piece of information at that moment. A set of three beeps sounded off within Yoko’s helmet, directly above the center of her head. That was her Warning System in action, alerting her to the danger above. This property of Aegis let her detect possible threats via Sonar, Thermal, and Reiatsu, but in its current state is only really gave her annoying little beeps rather than truly useful information. Nonetheless, it was enough of a notice to let Yoko look up in time to see Kazuko’s follow-up attack.

As Kazuko threw out the blast of fire, Yoko drew two of her weapons. Her arms crossed as her left hand retrieved the pistol from her right hip and the other hand pulled forth the Master Sword. Given that the shield had been able to protect her from the previous attack, she figured that this next attack would be just as easy to deal with, and she was right. Her left arm was raised overhead, and two shots were fired out of her pistol and straight into the mass of fire coming towards her. Though it seemed absurd to anyone who wasn’t familiar with Yoko’s power, the bullets parted the fire down the middle, like when Moses parted the Red Sea. The bullets only had an attack value of 600, but a 30s level Kido simply couldn’t match up to the power of Aegis. To put it simply, Kazuko’s attack was outclassed. The final result of that attack was that the fireball was sent off to either side of Yoko, leaving her completely unharmed. Oh, and the bullets were headed straight for Kazuko at a speed of 600. That was kinda important too.

After the youth managed to deal with those bullets in some fashion, he threw out a joke to Yoko. "I hope Kazura can pay for the damages." Her eyesight was good enough to tell that he was grinning, but she couldn’t tell if it was because he was happy to cut loose a bit himself, if he was still thinking about the kiss, or if he just was happy about causing some damage that Kazura would probably have to shell out for. It didn’t really matter what the reason for his good mood was that much, though Yoko was hoping that the battle was the cause of it. If Kazuko was the type that could grin in the midst of battle then maybe, just maybe, she could wind up liking him too. She didn’t have anyone else on her level within Uzaki Enterprises right now, and having someone to call on if she needed to blow off steam could definitely be useful. The more Yoko thought about it, the more she could see herself enjoying being with Kazuko…

But all that thought had left her defenseless in the middle of a battle. There was a good deal of time there where she was simply standing still, lost in her thoughts about this whole ordeal. The situation, romance wise at least, was so foreign to her that she was still spending a good deal of her effort thinking about it. But even as she stood there on the rooftop, her time wasn’t completely wasted. Greater clarity of mind was helpful, yes, but Aegis was also using one of its passive abilities. The GN Drive within her armor was drawing what ambient light there was, and converting it to power that Yoko could make use of. So long as her Stage Two Fullbring was active, that process would continue. While that meant she was able to keep fighting, she was still so distracted that Kazuko had plenty of time to plan, prepare, and launch whatever attack he chose.

((Minor cinematic liberties are used in this post, but they’re in your favor. Realistically, the shield could tank the hit considering it’s part of a Class 2 release, but I figured having it crumble away would be a bit cooler since you bothered with the incantation. Also, the transformation sequence is normally instant, but fanservice felt fun. Also, note that the initial weapon loadout spawns for free when Yoko releases for the first time each thread.))

Reiatsu: 1650/1750
-500 for Fullbring Stage 2 Release
+400 from GN Drive

Fullbring Stage 2: 1/13 posts

92FS (Pistol) Ammo: 8/10

SPOILER: Click to show

{Pistol Info}
Name: Beretta 92FS
Appearance:Link
Slots Required: 1 Sub Slot
Effective Range: 50 meters
Power: 600
Speed: 600
Ammo Capacity: 10
Special Traits: Can be equipped with a suppressor for 50 additional reiatsu.
Alternate Fire: None.
Spawn Cost: 100
Drawback: Low range, low power, low speed, and only a moderate ammo capacity. This is just a basic sidearm. The only reason to use it is for the low cost, or if you need a suppressed weapon.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Rifle Info}Name: HK-417 Battle Rifle
Appearance: Link
Slots Required: 1 Main
Effective Range: 500 meters
Power: 800
Speed: 800
Ammo Capacity: 20
Special Traits: Fire select can switch between semi-auto, 3-shot burst, and fully automatic.
Alternate Fire: None.
Spawn Cost: 200.
Drawback: Iron sights mean accuracy is poor unless two hands are used to aim. If fired from one hand, only one in two bullets (at maximum) can be perfectly on-target. This persists regardless of weapon skill. Standard Energy Shots ignore this drawback, but can only be fired at a semi-auto rate of fire.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Sword Info}Name: Physical Sword
Appearance:] Varies. Any sword she's seen can be replicated in terms of form.
Slots Required: 1 Main Slot if length of the blade is >10 inches. Shorter blades use 1 Sub slot.
Effective Range: Melee.
Power: Based on wielder's stats.
Speed: Based on wielder's stats.
Ammo Capacity: N/A
Special Traits: Spiritual Steel Durability. Edges can be made blunt when swords are formed.
Alternate Fire: N/A
Spawn Cost: 50
Drawback: It's not a gun, and it doesn’t do anything beyond cut people.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Shield Info}Name: MMI-RG59V Mobile Shield
Appearance: Link
Slots Required: 1 Sub
Effective Range: N/A
Power: Based on wielder's stats.
Speed: Based on wielder's stats.
Ammo Capacity: N/A
Special Traits: Can freely convert between a buckler-sized shield for storage or skirmishing and a tower-shield for full-on tanking. Additionally, the shield can be forearm-mounted so that a hand is not needed, and orientation can be changed on the fly between parallel to the arm, perpendicular to the arm, or any point in between. Durability is that of spiritual steel, requiring an attack stat of twice Yoko’s reiatsu strength to destroy it completely or cut straight through it, but it can be damaged by any attacks with simple superiority.
Alternate Fire: N/A
Spawn Cost: 100
Drawback: High cost for no offense.]

[Deleted]

The Shakkaho parted, two walls of crimson reiatsu letting way for two blasts – bullets – that continued to race toward him. Momentarily, the Vice-Captain was distracted and a little confused. That… just happened. Regardless, before anything else, he had to deal with the incoming threats, so he stepped off with a Shunpo. With a hiss his sandals slid on the concrete of the roof, on level with the Fullbringer, who was a handful of meters away. As it were, the Vice-Captain was quite surprised indeed; he had expected the woman to put up a fight, but not something like this. Both his attacks had been utterly stopped, which, to him, was something that happened rarely. To date, the youth could only remember a handful of occasions where someone had actually stopped to block and shatter his Kido; actually, only two: the first, of course, was his Captain Raion Souretsu; the second, was by the Vandenreich General Baal. Usually, his enemies evaded, or dodged, not stand their ground and destroy his spells. It was only reasonable to assume that Yoko would do the same; she was only human after all. But she was more than looks as it were, and Kazuko grinned as he realized how much he wanted things to work out with her.


Though, he did not make a big show out of the transformation; even clad in the armor of her release, the Vice-Captain made an effort to keep himself cool. In reality, whether the woman knew it or not, she had dealt the first blow of the fight. As he stood there, his eyes darting here and there on her armor analyzing, his heart beat furiously. Beforehand, as Yoko was unveiling her power, she had also done the same with her body. The Fullbringer had released her Secondary Fullbring, and in the process, for a moment, been clad in nothing more than her undergarments. Obviously, Kazuko had looked away – well, once he realized what he was doing of course, which was stare. Abashed, and in a jittery mess, Kazuko could only stare intently at the concrete underneath his feet, as if it had some story to tell. Luckily, or unluckily, for both of them, the Fullbringer had activated her Level Two Fullbring, meaning that the sudden spectacle of power distracted the youth long enough to get his head out of the gutter. Even then, standing there after having his attacks destroyed, he had trouble concentrating on the opponent at hand… she was just too beautiful – and cool! She was a robot! Well, had robot-like armor and stuff, but still, that was awesome! Yoko looked like something straight out of the comic books Kazuko had stashed in his office.


Nonetheless, all this went off in his head, and on the outside, he did not look too bothered; his face was redder than it should have been albeit, but he was not googly eyed or anything… or at least he hoped he was not. I… I need to act cool too. Kazuko thought, willing himself to put up the best "tough guy" act he could. However, before he could, he realized something that in the fuss of replaying Yoko’s transformation for the umpteenth time in his head, he had missed. The roof was in shambles. Between the Raikoho digging a trench on its path, its destruction, the Shakkaho, and the two massive holes that came from that, the majority of the roof had either been charred, cracked, or was simply missing. More than that, there were hundreds of people below them in the rooms of the hotel. This was no place to continue their battle. The Vice-Captain pointed up, signaling a change of scenery to the Fullbringer, and without speaking, simply flew upward, two plates of reiatsu flat against his soles. Yoko, probably realizing the same thing, complied, and flew up as well, leaving the roof, and the damages, in the capable hands of Kazura’s wallet. Luckily, he was very understanding so the youth saw no problem there from the millionaire.


(OOC: As we agreed, we have a cinematic change in setting. The sky's the limit now... mind the pun.)


Regardless, they ascended quite a way upward, until the city below looked like nothing more than a field of lights. Kazuko was still a handful of meters away from Yoko, but he soon made a change to that. The Vice-Captain slid backward on the air-ground he had formed, and put some distance between them. At the same time, with his zanpakuto in his left hand, the youth quietly, and deliberately slid the soft steel against the palm of his right hand; the motion, almost instantly, drew blood, until his entire palm was filled with the stuff. The Vice-Captain lifted his hand, and held one bloody finger up, and held it out for the Fullbringer to see. “Outside of training, I have only used this technique once, and it cost me almost everything at the time.” Momentarily, Kazuko remembered the influx of rage and anger he had felt when he had used that technique, and, with a heart full of regret – and rage – thought of how much things had changed since that fateful day. The people he had watched turned into nothing but targets, and the those he himself had burned out of little more than childish anger. Kazuko had never forgiven those “holy angels” for their crimes, but neither had he forgiven himself for the way he had acted. Regardless, the fact that he had even said this meant that he wanted the woman to realize what that just meant. Other than for her, the Vice-Captain had never considered activating what he planned to use.


Still, it seemed that the Vice-Captain had made amends with that part of himself, or had suppressed the memories and emotions, anyway, as he was prepared to use it again. With his voice flat, he incanted, “Hado #86: Soukahou.” The rest of the spell, he finished with a mental incantation, as not to keep the Fullbringer bored and waiting for him to finish. It was merely a warning. Instantly, the blood on his right hand ignited, sending wisps and fangs into the night air. The first clue, besides the obvious spell name, that would warn the Fullbringer that this was not any ordinary fire, would be the color of the flames: gray. No flame burned like that; and it burned quite indeed. The fire grew and spread from the palm, engulfing his hand, until it finally covered his entire arm in gray fire. For whatever reason, the flame was malleable, as it clung to his arm; the Vice-Captain waved the flaming hand over his zanpakuto, and allowed the flame to fall and spread on the steel, coating it with the very same fire that was on his casting arm. Of the spells in his arsenal, Soukahou was the second strongest in terms of offensive power; the Vice-Captain only had one other spell that was stronger, but that was reserved for someone else, and not the woman that currently held his affection.


Despite how serious the moment seemed, inside, Kazuko was still his old self; he watched Yoko behind bored eyes, and continued to ask himself the same thing over and over again. Does… does she think I look cool? He could not really help it, to be fair. He was in rapture with the woman, and the only reason he had pulled out Soukahou was too bring himself to her current level of power. Obviously, she could handle the level of destruction the Vice-Captain could bring to bear, so he chose to give her the fight that she wanted. Its not like he wanted to kill her; he had other plans regardless for how the battle would progress. Even in his hormonal stupor, he realized that his time was running short. His Reiatsu, no longer contained, was crushing his body, slowly, and he could feel its weight on his shoulders pressing down. Then, there was the cost of using Soukahou – a sacrificial Hado – that would slowly burn his arm from the use of the flames. On top of all that, there was also the toll of the reiatsu he had expended to activate the technique, so, there were already beads of sweat on his forehead. Regardless, he had some time before his very own Reiatsu ground him to a painful halt, so he would make the best show he could in the time he had to the woman of his affection.


“Just remember that kiss.” Kazuko, said, breaking the façade, and allowing a grin to show through the mask of “cool guy” seriousness. He swept his arm in an arc, and in the process, rained a proverbial hell storm. Yoko, whether she was expecting it or not, would find a wall – a literal wall – of nothing but gray flame fast approaching. The heat was massive, along with the size; each fire ball, by itself, was as large, or larger, than an actual house. Inside her armor, the heat from the flames, if she was not careful, would cook her from the inside in, if they got too close and she stayed there for too long. The Vice-Captain, through Soukahou, could fire 600 a minute – ten a second – of these fireballs. The real problem, however, was not in the heat, power, or even the size of the streaks of fire. Yoko, undoubtedly, could bring her own firepower to bear – mind the pun – and might be able to overpower the strength that each fireball had. The power was not overwhelming, so she might have something even stronger destruction-wise than that. But that was just it. There were so many; and they did not stop coming. The real effectiveness of the spell was not the level of destruction it could bear, but the sheer volume that it could dispense at any one time. Each Sokatsui from the Soukahou had enough in it to overpower her armor and possibly down her if she could not cope with the heat and strength of them. That was where the real power of the technique came in, in overwhelming an opponent.


Regardless, Yoko would have a gargantuan wave of nothing but fire on fast approach, and for the time being, all the fire obscured Kazuko. Her first obstacle would be deciding how she dealt with the flames. Did she have enough ammunition to deal with a seemingly never-ending stream of fire? Would she play hopscotch, or would she try to force her way through the fire? That was her first problem. The second would come once she dealt with the first wave of flames in whatever manner she chose. Kazuko, hidden behind the fire of the attack, was nowhere to be seen. Had he run away? Not quite; whatever detection system Yoko had within her helmet would likely call its next warning as the sudden stream of afterimages of Kazuko brushed by her side. What was this? It was Senka. The moment she was out of danger from the flames, the Vice-Captain would be at her back, his body and sword arm moving at a Stat Speed of 4400. His blade bit out, attempting to bite into her release; Senka alone would be troublesome. But again, the Vice-Captain was no longer holding back. It was not this easy. Along with the sword stroke – which was still on fire – came the heat and fangs of the fire that continued to escape his body. The sword stroke delivered another massive wave of Sokatsui flames, point blank and at her back. For now, this was what the Vice-Captain brought to bear, so how would Yoko react to all this?


Remaining Reiatsu: 3000/4000 (-50 for Shunpo, -600 for Soukahou, -100 for Senka)

Combat Posts: 2/8

Short Term Stat Boosts (Incantations): 3/6

RS of Soukahou: 1080

[Deleted]

((Yay cinematic liberty! It makes everything more fun.))

Fairly wisely, Kazuko decided that the two combatants should probably not fight on the rooftop any longer. As hard as they were going, right off the bat, the city wouldn’t survive if they kept fighting. It wasn’t clear how close Kazuko was to using his maximum firepower, but Yoko still had a few more steps she could ramp up to. Thus far, she hadn’t used any of her power enhancing techniques, or even one of her more powerful weapons. If she started breaking those out amidst the buildings… there probably wouldn’t be any buildings left fairly quickly. And so Yoko took off into the sky, though her rise was a bit more majestic than if she had just used air ground. That most basic mobility skill for combatants in the human world was useful, but having to keep your feet anchored to the air ground didn’t let it look quite as awesome as true flight. That was what Yoko used for her ascension. Her armor’s thrusters activated, filling the air around her with a low hum. With that power active, she leisurely ascended into the heavens, enjoying her power of flight as she always did.

And so the two fighters stood in the sky, ready to resume their battle. However, Kazuko proceeded to pull a strange move. He didn’t immediately attack, and instead proceeded to slice open his hand instead. Even at a good distance, Yoko’s eyes were keen enough to see the crimson liquid on her suitor’s hand. Her first guess was blood magic of some sort, but that notion was put to rest rather quickly. Kazuko spoke with a mixture of bragging and warning. “Outside of training, I have only used this technique once, and it cost me almost everything at the time. Hado #86: Soukahou.” With those words, the Shinigami’s arm was covered in a gray field of fire. Soon enough, that blaze spread to his sword. Yoko wasn’t aware of the exact properties of this technique, but based on the previous displays, it wasn’t too hard to guess that it’d shoot out some kind of fireball.

Apparently this spell was something rather serious. Kazuko called out to Yoko once more. “Just remember that kiss.” Those words had only one meaning. He intended to end the fight with this technique. With the exact details of the attack unknown, it was hard to prepare for specifically, but Yoko could at least prepare a bit. Her sidearm was re-holstered on her left hip, and her battle rifle began floating off to her side. Yeah, you read that right, it was just floating in the air next to her. That was the Psychoframe System in action. Any of her weapons or shields could function fully autonomously based solely on Yoko’s will. This most basic use of it wasn’t incredibly powerful, but it left Yoko with two hands for her sword, and that was something that may come in handy.

Music

It seemed that Yoko had guessed right. Kazuko launched his attack, and a grin was immediately present on Yoko’s face. This was the kind of challenge she wanted. The sheer size of the attack was hard to believe. It was doubtful that it would work, but Yoko gave it a try anyway. Her pistol detached from her waist with the aid of the Psychoframe system. Both her weapons fired a pair of shots towards the mass of fire approaching her, but they did nothing to slow it down. Her weapons simply lacked the power to defeat this new attack. There were a couple of options open to her at this point. She could have dodged, but this battle was just as much about impressing each other as it was winning. Dodging simply wasn’t the correct choice if she was going to have fun.

Instead, Yoko focused her power carefully. This was the first time that she’d used this technique in battle, and it wasn’t one that she was willing to use lightly. The Shinigami’s attack was strong enough to force a powerful response, but Yoko was still unwilling to back down in the face of danger. Unless Kazuko could force it, she intended to never move from where she stood. This technique, Impact, would allow her to do that. Despite her lack of combat practice with the technique, Yoko was confident that she had mastered this one. Nonetheless, it came with a nasty hit to her stamina, so it wasn’t one she could use over and over. She needed this single usage of the technique to either win the fight outright, or to just provide her with a large enough advantage that she could close it out fairly easily.

Her mental preparation took a moment, and the wave of fire had grown dangerously close. It mattered little though. This technique, normally designed for a single hit against someone, was used to strike out at the air itself. With both hands, Yoko held her sword up and to her left. She slashed diagonally downwards, and the sky itself seemed to shudder from the force of that swing. For this one attack, her impact strength had gone up fourfold, reaching an insane value of 2400. Of course, there was nothing impacted aside from the air, but that was enough. The raw strength of the attack pulled the air around her forward into a massive shockwave whose size and power dwarfed that of Kazuko’s wall of flames. That single swing was enough. Every trace of the wall of fire had vanished, but so had Kazuko. Yoko’s attack was strong yes, but she would have seen Kazuko behind the wall of flames if he was still there.

Kazuko had moved when he launched his attack, and Yoko caught one of the afterimages that he had left behind as her sword swing neared the lowest point. His destination was fairly obvious. He had a flamesword and was using a high-speed movement technique. There was only one place that people showed up after their first offensive use of high-speed movement: behind you. Rather than letting her swing stop when it reached the bottom of the arc, Yoko instead activated a second technique: Bringer Flash. A yellow circle of light flickered next to her arm, propelling it at speeds five times faster than it could normally move. She pivoted with the swing, bring it back up and around with a rising slash. From Kazuko’s perspective it went from his right foot up past his left shoulder… starting just before he arrived behind the Fullbringer.

Had Yoko not controlled herself somewhat in that attack, the result would have been fatal instantly. She was still in that same swing of the sword, and though she had switched to hold the blade with only her right hand at the moment she activated Bringer Flash, the power was still immense thanks to the use of Impact. The shockwave continued to form as she swung her sword, but this second half of the motion only sent force straight upwards in the space between the two fighters. That attack had more than enough power to obliterate the fireball, but Yoko’s careful aim of the shockwave had prevented it from actually hitting Kazuko. The same couldn’t be said for his sword. Kazuko’s weapon was right in the path of the shockwave, and was pulled from his grasp instantly. Resisting the force of a 2400 strength shockwave simply couldn’t be done when one had only human levels of strength. If Kazuko had tried… his arms would be flying up into the sky along with his sword. Given the strength of the attack, his sword wouldn’t be back for quite some time either.

Switch to this music

At that moment, the fight was over. This wasn’t because of Kazuko’s lack of a weapon, nor was it from the fact that Yoko could have just cut him in half. No, the fight was over for an entirely different reason. Yoko had cancelled her fullbring’s activation. She stood before Kazuko, a bit short on breath from using impact, but wearing just her pilot suit. Granted, her battle rifle had been slung over her back by a strap, and her pistol had somehow holstered itself on her left hip where there definitely wasn’t a holster before, but those were minor details. Her sword was slung across her back through a slot between the barrel and the hand guard. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked in a pinch. Now the question was simply why on earth she had ended her release.

Yoko wasn’t cocky enough to try and say that she had just won the fight. Kazuko’s arm was still on fire, so he could probably just blast her in the face if he really wanted. The “young” Shinigami’s chances of confusion were lowered drastically when Yoko shared her reason with him. [smear:00ffff]”I didn’t forget… but I think I’ve seen enough for now.”[/smear:0000ff:1] She didn’t give much of an explanation, but her meaning was clear as day. Kazuko had shown plenty of power just now, and had pushed Yoko to use most of her strength from the get-go. Sure, there were a few more levels she could reach if she needed to, and there were undoubtedly tricks that Kazuko could have pulled out still, but the two had proved they were a good challenge for each other. To Yoko, that was what mattered. Kazuko was the first person to give her a true challenge since she’d reached this level of power, and that was all she had wanted.

Still, Yoko’s answer had left one thing out at first. She hadn’t admitted defeat, nor had she claimed victory, and there had definitely been a bet based on who won the fight. The Fullbringer wasn’t going to verbally admit defeat. No, to her, this was a draw. Regardless, she grabbed Kazuko, flaming arm and all, and gave away her first kiss. Her body nestled against him, caring little for any pain that might come in the event Kazuko kept his arm aflame. Now, Yoko wasn’t too experienced with the whole romance thing, but she’d watched enough mushy anime where they talked about kissing to know the basics. It was only thanks to those shows that she avoided anything too stupid. The whole thing, somewhat to Yoko’s surprise, actually turned out to be rather enjoyable. The taste of his lips lingered on her own, even as she pulled away from the embrace. For the first time in years, she was genuinely happy. Not just content. She was actually enjoying her life without a doubt in her mind.

[smear:00ffff]”Let’s call it a draw for now. Would be kinda hard to go on an actual date if one of us accidentally killed the other… and don’t pretend we weren’t just throwing around that kind of power. One of those fireballs would’ve burned me to a crisp,[/smear:0000ff:1][smear:00ffff] and that last swing of my sword would’ve cut you in half if I wasn’t careful. Definitely wouldn’t be good for our relationship if one of us died, now would it?”[/smear:0000ff:1] Yoko gave her words a few moments to sink in. She’d just said a few very, very important words as far as Kazuko was concerned. The Fullbringer had spoken of a “date” as well as a “relationship.” Neither of those had been on the table earlier, but Yoko had found herself not caring what she had said a few minutes ago. Kazuko was strong, earnest, and seemed to have good taste in entertainment. What more could she want in a partner... aside from him being human.

[smear:00ffff]”Don’t think we’re done here though. Let me go set these guns somewhere, and then we’re having a proper test of swordplay and martial arts.”[/smear:0000ff:1] In all of this, Kazuko was never really given a choice. That was just who Yoko was. If she was going to date someone, they were going to do things her way. She could be flexible if she needed to, but the Shinigami would have to understand that he hadn’t proved he was perfect just yet. Based on Yoko’s experience with Shinigami, giant fireballs were basically the norm. If Kazuko really wanted to win her over, his basics would have to be just as good. Either way, Yoko turned around to look back at her hotel and bent over, trying to eyeball whether or not she could just toss the guns into a hole in the ceiling from here or not. That position also gave Kazuko a nice view, and Yoko was perfectly aware of that. She was having way too much fun with the whole “he likes me” thing.

Eventually, Yoko decided it wasn’t worth the risk. [smear:00ffff]”Be right back, boyfriend.”[/smear:0000ff:1] She gave an uncharacteristic giggle at the sound of her own words. It was really way too much fun to keep teasing Kazuko like that. With that, she dropped back down to her hotel room and stashed the guns and sword she had made somewhere. She came back with a pair of wooden training swords that she just happened to have lying around. When she returned to Kazuko, she gave him a stern look as if she could tell he was judging her. [smear:00ffff]”What? I was totally serious about not wanting to accidently get one of us killed!”[/smear:0000ff:1] With that, she tossed one of the training swords to the Shinigami and stepped back into a fairly standard stance with her sword held vertically to cover most of her body.

[smear:00ffff]”First to three points sound good?”[/smear:0000ff:1]

Reiatsu: 1750/1750
-200 from Impact
-50 from Bringer Flash
-50 from Thrusters
+400 from GN Drive

Fullbring Stage 2: Ended.

92FS (Pistol) Ammo: 6/10

Battle Rifle Ammo: 18/20

Short-Term Stat Boosts: 2/6

Shockwave/Sword Swing Strength: 2400

Bringer Flash Speed: 1500

[Deleted]

Cling! His zanpakuto spun like a propeller through the air, glinting in the fading moonlight as it vanished back down to earth. The Vice-Captain, for better lack of a word, was dumbfounded, at first. One of his strongest spells had been utterly blown away, fire and all, by something that exceeded his own potential in power. With one swing, the Fullbringer had obliterated the inferno, quelling it with nothing more than a blast of air, and at the same time, sent his zanpakuto clattering out of his hand along with the remainder of the fireballs. Weaponless, the Vice-Captain had backed away a few feet, both his hands up palms out and ready, having to resort to his Hakuda if need be. She had not completely disarmed him, as the youth relied more on his knowledge of Kido and raw Reiatsu than his sword skills, but she had made her mark. Regardless, the battle had not ended even though possibility had been there from the get-go. In the moments – no, the instants – before she countered his Senka, she had been in a position to harm him with her sword, as the Vice-Captain had been with his flames, but neither went through with their attacks. Her strength had been great enough to dispel the inferno, but he had other things left to bring forth if need be, as did she, so he was wary nonetheless.


However, just like that, for whatever reason, the battle had ended. Her Fullbring faded, and along with it, any sort of threat or animosity, if there had even been that. She was clad in the crimson and revealing suit  of her Secondary Fullbring that highlighted her curves, and almost immediately, Kazuko, moments before serious, was in shambles. The youth brought his head down, face red, but his eyes lingered on her. Not because he enjoyed looking at her – well that was part of the reason, to be fair – but because he was wary of any more attacks from her; she still had her weapons on her body, so he could not completely rule out the danger that she could pose. However, going by the way she looked at him, inside, the youth realized that the fight had ended on all fronts. [smear:00ffff]”I didn’t forget… but I think I’ve seen enough for now.”[/smear:0000ff:1] Her entire demeanor radiated warmth and that alone, made him lower his guard completely. Kazuko did not say anything, but he kept his eyes locked on hers, both of them just there, taking in the moment. Before, they had both released great displays of power, and, with one wrong step, could have ended each other if they had actually had had the will to do it. Now, it was all over, and a certain peace settled over them both.


That is, until Yoko approached Kazuko, bringing her arms around him, and brought him close to her. Immediately, the Soukahou that clung to his arm vanished, wisps of reiatsu fading in the darkness. Kazuko, for whatever reason, did not feel threatened or intimidated by the sudden need to get closer, and instead, relinquished his spell in the effort of staving the flames from her. Surprised, her lips met his, sending a wave of thrill through his body, but he did not fight it, and embraced her as well. He leaned in, savoring the feeling and the taste; both of them stayed like that, locked in each other’s embrace, for a few moments. When they broke apart, the Vice-Captain was wide-eyed, a stark red, and did not know what to think. His mind was completely blank, which was rare, considering he never stopped thinking – even about stupid things like comics. [smear:00ffff]”Let’s call it a draw for now. Would be kinda hard to go on an actual date if one of us accidentally killed the other… and don’t pretend we weren’t just throwing around that kind of power. One of those fireballs would’ve burned me to a crisp,[/smear:0000ff:1][smear:00ffff] and that last swing of my sword would’ve cut you in half if I wasn’t careful. Definitely wouldn’t be good for our relationship if one of us died, now would it?”[/smear:0000ff:1]


If it was not for how utterly shocked and surprised he was, Kazuko might have actually understood immediately what she meant by the whole thing. As it was, the youth was in rapture with the kiss and what it had all meant. What were they now? “You… you have a point, we might have gotten carried away a bit.” He conceded, not really knowing what to say. He was confused beyond any reasonable hope of salvation, and could not think straight for the life of him. But like a valve, realization slowly dawned on him that she had actually mentioned pursuing an actual relationship. Immediately, he said, “Wait… what do you mean by relationship!? Dating!? Are we dating now!? Do you want to go somewhere then!? Anywhere is fine, as long as you’re happy with it!” Kazuko was giddy with excitement; in fact, if it was not for the fact that he still wanted to look somewhat cool to her, he would have been doing jumping jacks right then and there. They had kissed! Kissed! That along meant something. Now, they were in a relationship! Who would have guessed? Two people who had only a little while before been clashing, were now in a relationship! This was awesome!


[smear:00ffff]”Don’t think we’re done here though. Let me go set these guns somewhere, and then we’re having a proper test of swordplay and martial arts.”[/smear:0000ff:1] Yoko, being Yoko, did not answer his questions, cutting him off instead, and turned around, looking back down toward the hotel, something weighing on her mind. Darn it! He did not know why, but he had the feeling that she enjoyed toying with his emotions. The Vice-Captain, momentarily, was dumfounded again, and began to feel a bit irritated at her sudden change in thought. Again? They were going to fight again!? They had only just then stopped, and now they were getting back into the thick of it. Well, he did not mind it too much though – he was always up for a good match – but they could have well been spending the time doing other stuff... like not fighting. Kazuko would have pressed his questions but, again, realization dawned on him of where exactly his eyes had been staring as she bent down, and he immediately spun away, all manner of speaking lost to him. Darn it, not again! She had him. Just like that, his whole mood had done a 360, and he felt the trickle of warmth puddle at his stomach, as he realized how much he liked the woman. And they had kissed!


[smear:00ffff]”Be right back, boyfriend.”[/smear:0000ff:1] Again, she had left him there speechless, not able to get a single sensible sentence out. Boyfriend? Wait… she said boyfriend! What does that… how did… oh, maybe I… After a while, he realized that his confounded line of reasoning was getting him nowhere. For the moment, he was feeling quite proud of himself however; he did not know how, but Yoko had actually opened up to him, which was great. And now, they might even be girlfriend and boyfriend, which was even better. But like a splash of cold water, Kazuko happened to glance at his arm – the one that had cast Soukahou – and realized that his entire sleeve had been burned off. Having only been active for such a short while, the sacrifice was not great, and his skin was only a slight shade of red from keeping the spell active. Regardless, that was not what had him disturbed. For whatever length of time, his arm had been exposed, and he knew, without a doubt, that she had seen what was there, and what he usually kept hidden. He cradled his arm, making sure to hide as much of it as he could, even though the whole thing came off as silly. She was no longer there at the moment, so why would he feel the need to hide something?


His right arm, starting at the upper forearm, had scars stretched all along it; they were faded, but still a darker contract than the rest of his skin was. Some looked like burns while others looked like the flesh had been completely torn out and had, by some means or another, been replaced. It was not hideous or anything to look at, and might look cool to some, but Kazuko was not proud of any of it. His torso, arms, and parts of his legs were covered in these very same scars. They were all the result of the Vandenreich, during their fateful invasion of the Gotei. It was during this time that the Vice-Captain had suffered much mental trauma and bodily damage; it had taken the youth months of intensive care to even be able to grip his sword again, which, at the same time, had been nothing more than a hilt and a handgrip. The scars, however, were not what had Kazuko ashamed, but the memories that came with them. Each told a different story to the young officer. Death, sacrifice, vengeance, defeat, pain, and regret. It was sad to see how someone so young could have been through so much already, but regardless, the Vice-Captain did not feel like sharing what he had done with anyone... there were some secrets better left unsaid. And now, Yoko had caught a glimpse of those very same scars. What would she think of him now?


As Yoko was away, Kazuko unwound the bandages that held his Vice-Captains’ Badge on his shoulder off, pocketing the piece carefully, and set to wrap his right arm in them. He was no master of medicine, but even he knew how to wrap something in cloth. There was not enough white bandage to cover his whole arm, but it was enough to cover what needed to be covered: his shame. Yoko returned a bit after he had finished, looking just as beautiful as when she had left in her crimson get-up. In her arms, she carried two wooden training swords, one of which she tossed over to him. He caught the piece of wood, eyeing it down suspicously, before holding it by the inlaid grip. “Wait… are we actually going to…” and again, she cut him off, making sure to get her point across before he did. Oh boy, did she like to be in control, but for whatever reason, Kazuko found the whole thing as appealing, attractive even. [smear:00ffff]”What? I was totally serious about not wanting to accidentally get one of us killed!”[/smear:0000ff:1] Kazuko sighed; he had what he wanted, or at least he thought he did, so he might as well enjoy it. The Vice-Captain, making sure not to pull on the bandages too much, griped the blade at his front, angled, and with his feet squared away on the plates of air-ground.


[smear:00ffff]”First to three points sound good?”[/smear:0000ff:1] She said, her attitude still warm and inviting. It was remarkable how much someone could change once you got to know them. Kazuko nodded, a smile breaking out across his face. “Yeah, three sounds good to me… girlfriend.” He said, chuckling a bit too himself as well as she had done. It was warm, and clearly he was only repaying what she had told him earlier. It also opened up the question of what exactly they were now, but they could get to that later. “But afterward, we go somewhere else. How does that sound?” If she had an answer, she would have to wait, because as soon as he said that, he moved forward. Mimicking how she had cut him before, Kazuko wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine, sort of. He was not moving at full speed, but instead moved at an average pace (100) for the first two blows. They were two diagonal cuts, one right after the other in sequence; the first going from his upper right to his lower left and vice-versa. Then, deciding to pick up the pace (200), immediately stepped back, moving to the side, and brought the sword around in a horizontal slash, aiming for her abdomen. They were all basic moves, which, after years of constant practice, came off fluidly and precisely. To finish it, the Vice-Captain merely brought his sword up, overhead, and brought it down in an overhead slash, finally bringing himself to a more “reasonable” speed (300). All and all, Yoko would have little trouble reacting and parrying as she saw fit; she was far stronger physically than he was, so the blows themselves were not really dangerous at all. This was playful.


At some point, however, a thought crossed his mind as he moved in with the sequence of sword drills. Wait… what happened to my zanpakuto?


Remaining Reiatsu: 3000/4000

Combat Posts: 3/8

Soukahou: Ended

[Deleted]

Well, it certainly seemed that the feeling was mutual at this point. Kazuko’s initial response to the kiss, and Yoko’s use of the words “date” and “relationship” was about what the Fullbringer had expected. “Wait… what do you mean by relationship!? Dating!? Are we dating now!? Do you want to go somewhere then!? Anywhere is fine, as long as you’re happy with it!” This was joy in the purest sense, and it was about the same as how Yoko was feeling at that moment. For the first time in her life, she had someone who accepted her completely, and was happy just to spend time with her. It was… reassuring, to have that kind of feeling. Her life, especially over the last four years, had been ruled by hardship. A relationship, even just as friends, with a normal human was basically out of the question. Kazuko was different. He matched Yoko’s strength blow for blow, and he was enthralled by her. There really wasn’t much more that the girl could ask for.

Okay, there were a few more things she could ask for. At that moment, her mind was on testing out her partner’s skill with a sword and his martial talents. Shinigami were, based on what she knew of them at least, supposed to be fairly good at that kind of thing. If Kauzko really wanted to win her over, he’d need some talent in both of those areas as well. Most of what Yoko desired in a relationship, outside of the basics, was someone who could challenge her to grow stronger both on and off the battlefield. Ideally, her lover could push her farther along in her proficiency with firearms, swords, and hand to hand combat all at once. A Shinigami was unlikely to be of huge help with firearms, but batting two for three wasn’t too bad. And besides, Yoko did want the basics too. That kiss, her first, had ignited something in her that had been dormant for a long time. She wanted more… but part of her also feared this new desire that had sprung up within her.

Either way, she had decided to simply enjoy herself as she pleased for the time being. Mostly, that meant she was going to enjoy her newfound power over Kazuko. She wasn’t going to do anything ridiculous, like making him lick her boots. Nah, that wasn’t any fun. Instead, Yoko simply wanted to enjoy being desired by him. That was why she’d bent over at that awkward angle. She knew exactly what kind of view she was giving Kazuko, and the reaction she saw out of the corner of her eye what she was hoping for. There was plenty to go off from her shows. She knew how to dish out some service for her number one fan, and had no issues with doing so. Modesty was generally a non-issue with her, and it was worth it if Kazuko kept getting all flustered. He was just so cute when he caught himself staring! Wait what, was happening to Yoko? Here she was, giggling over a boy liking her, and wanting to spend time on romance? This was far enough removed from her usual self that part of her was scared of these feelings… but it just felt… right.

Maybe getting back to the action was what she needed to sort out her head? Yoko went to go deposit most of her weapons, but returned with the two wooden swords. She tossed one over to Kazuko, and established the rules of their little game. Kazuko was quick enough to respond, “Yeah, three sounds good to me… girlfriend.” It sounded so weird to hear that word being used to refer to her. Yoko, until now, had never even been the object of someone’s desire, as far as she knew. Hearing terms of endearment and having someone genuinely like her… it was weird. The more it went on, the more that part of her was questioning what the hell she’d just been thinking. Sure, it was nice to be wanted, and kissing apparently was awesome, but was she ready for this? There was still so much doubt in her mind about the whole thing that she almost missed when Kazuko next spoke.

Music!

“But afterward, we go somewhere else. How does that sound?” Despite the question, Kazuko immediately moved into his first attack with the wooden sword. That didn’t stop Yoko from answering though. The pace of the blow was slow enough that a fellow master of blades could afford idle chatter easily. [smear:00ffff]”Alright. Winner picks where we go.”[/smear:0000ff:1] Really, it was just another attempt to encourage Kazuko to do his best in this match. He was clearly going easy at this point, and Yoko was having none of that. She lazily blocked his first strike, her sword not even moving from the impact. If she was just blocking, she didn’t need to hold back her strength. The difference in strength was enough that, honestly, it was like a kitten trying to push a boulder uphill. That was fine though. Kazuko didn’t need to be physically strong to challenge Yoko. His spells, Hado or whatever he called it, were enough of a threat that he could push Yoko in combat. Besides, a real sword didn’t need much strength to cut through flesh.

The second swing posed no more of a threat than the first. Yoko simply adjusted the angle of her sword slightly. Once more, Kazuko’s sword was stopped right in its tracks. It was clear neither of them was even trying at this point, and Yoko’s face showed the lack of satisfaction with the fact that she didn’t even need to move faster than an average human to keep up. Still, Kazuko’s form was solid at least. Even if he wasn’t trying that hard, Yoko couldn’t find fault with his stances or individual strikes, and that was what she was looking for anyway. It seemed that the Shinigami had picked up on her boredom with the slow pace though, as his third strike was nearly twice as fast. He stepped backwards before delivering that third attack, and that single step broadcast his movement completely. Going for an overhead strike while Yoko’s sword was already raised was folly, and moving back eliminated the possibility of a stab. A sweeping slash was the only real choice there.

Deductions like that came naturally to Yoko. Her talents mostly lied in melee range when it came to analysis, and she was especially proficient at predicting swordplay. She looked at attack sequences in terms of how they flowed together, and that was why she was able to analyze them as well, and as quickly, as she did. Flow was something that felt natural and organic. It was a sequence of attacks that seamlessly transitioned from one movement to the next. Proper flow allowed the best results from minimal energy. Her defense had flowed well thus far, having only required very slight movements. On the other hand, Kazuko had wasted two movements already. After the first blow was blocked, he had needed to bring his sword back into line for a second swing. Once that too had been blocked, both a step and another move to reposition his sword was used. His fundamentals were still solid, but Yoko had already discovered the limitations of his style.

Flow was what made it possible for Yoko to counter him so easily. His third attack was a large motion preceded by a step, both of which gave her plenty of time to react in a way that further hindered the flow of Kazuko’s strikes. As he stepped back, she stepped forward so that her right leg was in front. A quick change of grips left Yoko holding her sword in a reverse grip. The wooden blade was now held downwards, slightly in front of her and off to the side. This put it in the path of her opponent’s sword before her body would be hit. In a battle between those of equal strength, such a move would be nearly insane since it was hard to apply leverage for a block at that angle, but Yoko’s incredible strength advantage made such a block possible. Again, the two training swords clashed, and again Kazuko’s blade couldn’t even budge Yoko’s an inch.

Yoko wasted no time in moving once that block was complete. A second step was taken towards the Shinigami, bringing her left foot to the front once again. At this point, she was practically on top of him. No more than a few inches were between them, and that was the final blow against the flow of Kazuko’s attacks. Even though he had moved faster with his transition into the overhead swing, Yoko was simply too close to be hit by the sword. Granted, she was too close to use her sword against him as well, but she had said that she was going to test him in both swordplay and martial arts. If he didn’t realize she was too lazy to test him separately for each category, well that was his problem.

From that position, only a few inches away, Yoko gave her new boyfriend a bit of a love tap. It was a palm strike to the chest with her left hand, but her strength was held back completely. Only enough force was used to let Kazuko know that he’d been struck, but even strength on par with a strong human or a weak animal could potentially collapse his ribcage. Trying to find a doctor that could treat a Shinigami wasn’t high on Yoko’s list, so the strength of her blow was actually around that of what a nerdy teenager could deliver (~40). However, once she had made contact, she upped her strength considerably to shove him backwards. With the strength of a wild animal (150), she straightened out her arm. Against someone as weak as and light as Kazuko, that was plenty to send him skidding backwards across the air ground. It was just a push though, not a strike, so it didn’t cause any damage.

This was the advantage of Yoko’s instinctive understanding of Flow. She could see all these little imperfections thanks to having sight that put most animals to shame. With her knowledge of swordsmanship and martial arts, she was able to punish them. Just being able to counter and land a hit wasn’t what made this entire sequence impressive though. Throughout that entire sequence, her speed had never exceeded the upper limits of what normal humans were capable of. Instead, she had utilized a sequence with flawless flow to defend and attack with minimal movement. This was the difference between a specialist and a generalist. Kazuko’s talents were spread between his spells and martial combat, but Yoko’s style was almost entirely centered around close combat. She had a bit of talent with her firearms, but those were mostly just used to shoot spells out of the air. This was where she excelled, and it was quite evident.

[smear:00ffff]”You’re too rigid. Loosen up a bit and try to have some fun with it. You’ll do a lot better if you don’t just rely on Kendo and let yourself flow instead.”[/smear:0000ff:1] These were views that were at the core of Yoko’s philosophy of battle. She had previously used Kendo, and she had found it poorly suited to battles at superhuman speed. Her aim wasn’t to mock Kazuko’s style or anything, but merely to encourage him to try something more unorthodox. Yoko firmly believed that “standard” styles all had existing counters. They were generally easy to read, and most were designed for the masses who would never reach levels of speed or strength that could hope to compare with either half of this couple. That she had shared this tip with Kazuko was rather remarkable, as her knowledge of martial combat was something she didn’t give out lightly. Any of those who worked below her at Uzaki Enterprises were lucky to get a quick tip on one specific move. Kazuko was different. Yoko could tell that he was strong enough to actually make use of her advice properly.

There wasn’t much time for Kazuko to let that sink in. [smear:00ffff]”Let me show you what good flow looks like.”[/smear:0000ff:1] With that, Yoko was on the offensive. She closed the distance between them quickly, flipping her sword back to a normal one-handed grip at the same time. Her speed wasn’t held back any longer, so it didn’t take more than a second. Just before she was about to hit striking range, she vanished with a use of movement. It was a basic technique that only increased her speed a few times over. Kazuko was easily able to follow that level of speed, but that’s what Yoko wanted. That step took her behind Kazuko, but she was still facing away from him. She made a motion as if she was going to spin around to strike him, but just before her strike was in range to either hit him or (more likely) be blocked, she vanished again, this time with Bringer Light. She moved back to the spot she had originally vanished from, meaning she was where Kazuko had originally been facing. From that spot, she finished her strike, spinning around to deliver a blow aimed at Kazuko’s ribs. Her strength was held back, so the attack could safely be blocked, and it wouldn’t do more than cause a bit of a bruise if it hit.

Managing to block the attack was definitely within Kazuko’s ability, even it was a bit tricky. Yoko’s movements forced his defense to be a bit awkward. If he didn’t turn to parry initial feint, then it seemed that he would be hit. However, if he reacted to that feint, then he exposed himself to the true attack. If Kazuko saw through the feint, then he was fine, but since the feint and true attack flowed together so well, predicting it wasn’t easy. Either way, Yoko was simply trying to prove a point. This was an attack which both flowed well and attempted to create poor flow in Kazuko’s defense. For her, this was a textbook example of how to fight properly, but it wasn’t done just yet. Her spin continued for another 180 degrees, which brought her left side around. With that last part of the turn came a round kick, aimed low. It was a simple leg-sweep attempt, but it flowed out of the sword swing flawlessly. Every part of the attack transitioned seamlessly into the next part, and each movement made the next harder to respond to. What would Kazuko do against an attack like this?

Reiatsu: 1675/1750
-25 for movement (900 speed)
-50 for bringer light (3000 speed)

[Deleted]

Kazuko moved through his sequence, his sword clattering against Yoko’s with every blow; however, there was no give, and whatever force he could put into the swings was lost at every interval. The Fullbringer was certainly strong, but the Vice-Captain had already gauged as much during their battle. With pure strength, she had actually managed to defend against a full barrage from Soukahou, so this level was expected. Still, neither were actually trying, and she moved and reacted just as that. Hardly moving her sword arm, she blocked all the blows without expending too much energy. Finally, on the final swing, Yoko parried, bringing her body in close in the process; Kazuko knew what was coming – her body language and her preferences in combat were predictable to a degree – but regardless, he made no move to dodge, or at least attempt to do so. Instead, the palm strike landed square on his chest, the force of the blow increasing the next instant, sending him skidding backward on his plates of air-ground. A gray sheen of reiatsu escaped his soles as he was pushed back, creating a sort of skid-mark effect with his reiatsu in the air.


With a sigh, however, the Vice-Captain let out a breath of held air; his gamble had paid off. If it were anyone else, the youth would have just cast a spell through the physical contact created when their bodies touched; however, she was different, and he could not bring himself to fight that way. Withholding a reaction, however, was not what had the youth nervous at that instant; it was the test he had subjugated himself to. The Vice-Captain knew without a doubt how strong indeed the Fullbringer was, and he had tested whether or not she was actually being upfront with him. It was silly really. Kazuko tested whether or not Yoko would actually hold back with her attack, and his gamble paid off; with a smile spreading across his face, he realized that she might be just as committed to the relationship working out as he was. Winning, or even hurting him did not seem to weigh heavily on her mind or her actions, so he was content with that. The last thing he needed was to let down his guard and find himself as a stain against a building. But that was just it, and he found that he could trust her to hold back.


Better yet, Yoko actually gave Kazuko some advise on his stance and his attacks; not only was she actually warm, but seemed to hold his interest in mind. Despite however serious the situation might be, the Vice-Captain actually managed to open up with a warm smile. This is great… not only is she strong, but she actually cares about how things go. Even as the Fullbringer sprang forward, her speed sending her into a blur of motion, Kazuko maintained the cheerfulness. The Vice-Captain brought his training sword up; attempting to parry or block whatever blow she had in mind. However, at the last moment, her frame vanished from view; Kazuko, however, tracked her trajectory and her energy along with the motion. With her sense of flow, it was likely that the effort or energy put into her attack would not go to waste. The youth turned his body then to react to the swing that was coming to his back, his arm blurring just as the foot that led the movement was. Just before their swords clattered together again, she vanished, this time, an aura of reiatsu leaving her as she did so; she had used a step technique.


Again, the Vice-Captain realized where the blow was coming at; his back was wide open, which meant that the Fullbringer had a clear shot. However, the problem was reacting to such a movement in that time frame. Kazuko, despite how little he wanted to continue the fight, did have enough sense to realize that Yoko wanted to take things seriously. If he threw the whole thing and let her win without at least a challenge, she might not really forgive him. Therefore, the youth had to fight accordingly and give her a good run for her money. She had used two high-speed movement techniques, so it was only fair that he do the same. Without stopping the motion he would have used for Yoko’s previous attack, the Vice-Captain continued to swing around. However, he had a lot more space to cover than she did, so he had to kick things up a notch. As he turned, his arm moved ahead, reversing his sword in its grip, and in an instant, disappeared from view. With another clatter of wood, the Fullbringer would find that her attempted swing at his back had been stopped as his arm materialized sword in a backhand position against hers.


Regardless, she continued despite being parried and continued her motion, turning the energy of her previous attack into a low kick. Kazuko, however, at a better point to react, simply moved backwards with her motion, escaping the range of her kick as he did so. All the while, his eyes darted back and forth, making sure to keep track of any movements or signs her body made. They could both increase the speed of their limbs or body at a moment’s notice, so he could not rule out any potential threats. About two meters away, the Vice-Captain brought his body somewhat low, looking for any possible signs of openings as Yoko finished her kick. Going for her other leg might have been an option, but the fact that she could redirect and reuse her sword and body motions meant that the youth might very well have a counter on the way. Despite the possibilities, this time, it was his turn, and he was ready to push ahead and make things a bit more entertaining. Well, at least he thought he was at first. Then, the same thought that had popped in his head before came back, and he raised his hand, as if to signal a pause in their mock battle.


With his hand raised, the Vice-Captain said, “Give me a second. I need to check on something.” With the sound of leaves brushing by, Kazuko disappeared in a step of Shunpo. After a moment or so of delay, he appeared on the hotel roof below, taking a sigh as he did so. The Vice-Captain looked around, searching for something, but quickly stopped, not finding anything. Kazuko walked over to one of the gaping holes in the roof and jumped inside, his feet landing with a soft thud on the floor. Come on… there has to be at least one left.” Luckily for him, he found what he was looking for still floating by one of the windows: a Hell Butterfly. The Vice-Captain raised his reiatsu a fraction, alerting the spirit, and allowed it fly over and land on his shoulder. He whispered softy, the wings of the butterfly batting just as softly in response. After a few seconds, the soul took off, escaping through one of the holes in the roof and into the sky. Now that I have that little guy looking for my zanpakuto, I can get back to new girlfriend.


Mentally, though, the Vice-Captain was questioning even continuing the battle with her; he did not really want to hurt her, and if he did beat her, then maybe she was the type of person that took things at their pride. Besides that, Kazuko was already pretty tired as it was; he did not let much of it on though, up in the sky, but his body was feeling the strain of his reiatsu greatly. Kazuko could feel his bones heavy, grinding almost, as his reiatsu created a flux around him. The Vice-Captain, his body small and young, had always had a difficult time retraining and controlling all his reiatsu. In recent years, along with his experience, his reserves and power had grown, making his stamina try and play “catch-up” with him. At the moment, he could feel a vast quantity of reiatsu escape his body, trying to regulate the strain and fatigue that he was feeling – little good that did. At this rate, Yoko will have to carry me back down if I don’t stop and rest. Kazuko thought to himself, realizing that he should get back to her already.


Utilizing another step of Shunpo, the Vice-Captain disappeared through the opening in the roof, and again, found himself where he had left Yoko. “Sorry to keep you waiting; I had to send out a few “friends” to search for my zanpakuto.” Kazuko finished, laughing a bit to himself. For some reason, losing his zanpakuto seemed funny – or maybe it was the manner in which he lost it that seemed funny. Who knows? The youth noticing for the first time the sky, added, “Sun is beginning to come up.” He pointed to the horizon, which had already turned into a light shade of violet. The moon, which had previously filled the night with light, was now on the cusp of its journey through the sky, surrounding them both in the twilight: the dawn. Kazuko brought his attention back to his girlfriend, and he smiled again, happy obviously. As if accepting something, the youth said finally, “I have kept you waiting long enough. If you want a good fight with the sword skills or my Hakuda, I can give you both. Though, you still have one point against me, so that means I’m at a disadvantage now.”


He grinned. “I really want to enjoy the sun rise with you, so lets end this quickly. Try to follow my movement if you can.” He finished, raising his hand, as if in warning. Though, for whatever reason, after saying that, Kazuko did not immediately move. If he wanted to end things quickly, why would he just stop, and continue to stare at her? Well, at least that was how it seemed. However, however Yoko responded, she would likely realize with a start a feint blow materialize against her shoulder region. They were soft, but even with her senses, whatever brought them on was difficult to make out. For some strange reason, however, she would realize that Kazuko was at her back now. But wait, he was still in front of her? Or was he? A few moments after she would feel the two blows, the image before her of the youth would shimmer and fade into the growing violet. It had been an illusion. Well, sort of an illusion. Kazuko had not used any form of spell at all. It had been nothing but pure speed: Utsusemi. When he had finished his last statement, the youth stepped off at mind boggling 10,000 speed. Yoko, despite her battle experience, had likely never even seen something move by her that fast before. Had Kazuko really had this in reserve all along?


Regardless if she saw the movement or not, her body was a tad too slow to react to it. Even at her maximum, it was unlikely that she could even move as fast as he could with that step. He had kept his arm out, not as warning, but as a means of tapping her as he passed by. Nonetheless, the Vice-Captain appeared a few meters back from her, his face still sporting that grin. “Before you ask, that was not a spell.” He said, holding out a finger, “I’ll tell you about it later if you’d like, but for now, we’re tied. Sound fair?” Despite how cool he wanted to seem, his breathing at taken a turn. The step technique, even at full stamina, was always taxing on his body, and left in tatters. In recent years, he had actually managed to cope better with the strain on his muscles Utsusemi produced, but it still left him exhausted. That, unfortunately, was the price he had to pay for showing off. Still, at least he looked sort of cool, which was something. “Lets try this again, then.” He said, his body blurring with the movement. At his maximum speed, the Vice-Captain was burning through what little energy he had left fairly quickly, but he wanted to get things done with quickly.


He would approach Yoko through her front, his sword moving out in a stabbing motion; however, as he was going through the thrust, he let go of his training sword, and allowed it to fly freely. It was poised to strike at her shoulder with the momentum, although small, remaining in the sword. However, any thought of deflecting it was soon discarded as Kazuko moved in tandem with the blade transitioning into a low kick at the other side, never breaking from that one clean motion. Clearly, he was following her advise in keeping with the “flow” of things. It was aimed at her abdomen, so it was not exactly that low. However, he was forcing her to make a choice and decide if she would outright move to defend against both possible blows, or keep her to her position and try to react to both. Depending on how she reacted, Kazuko would alter his mode of attack. But it seemed that he would not stop his attack, so Yoko would have to be wary of that as things continued.


Remaining Reiatsu: 2300/4000 (-100 for Shunpo Karin, -100 for 2x Shunpo, -500 for Utsusemi)

Combat Posts: 4/8

[Deleted]

((Sorry for keeping you waiting forever and a half. Work is lovely, but it's kept me from having time to post for far too long.))

Despite Yoko’s attack being executed well, Kazuko managed to block the sword strike. It wasn’t hard to tell how though. He’d used a technique similar to Bringer Flash, but it was just a Shinigami-friendly version of it. That he was able to defend was good, but forcing the usage of a technique like that still meant Yoko’s attack sequence had been mostly successful. If the technique Kazuko had used was anything like Bringer Flash in terms of drawbacks, it wasn’t the kind of thing that could be used over and over again. Bringer Flash wasn’t kind to the body, and someone as physically weak as Kazuko probably wasn’t able to deal with the drawbacks as well as a tank like Yoko. That was followed up with a casual dodge of the leg sweep, but that much was expected. Overall, it wasn’t a bad outcome for either side.

As always, Yoko was ready and waiting for the counterattack, but it never came. Instead, Kazuko said he needed a second… and just left. He didn’t go all the way back to Soul Society or anything, but he was gone for quite a while. The whole time, Yoko was just standing there with a dumbfounded look on her face. The sheer audacity of stepping out in the middle of a fight was just beyond her. It did give her a chance to catch her breath again though. Even though the GN Drive had replenished most of her reiatsu, it didn’t help her stamina at all. She’d managed to work up a little bit of a sweat, but it wasn’t anything too bad. The break she’d gotten when she deposited her weapons earlier combined with this second break was enough time for her stamina to mostly have recovered from all her exertion, but she still wasn’t quite back up to 100%.

By the time Kazuko returned, Yoko was ready to go… but it felt like the mood for the battle had been ruined a bit for her. The constant interruptions just made it feel odd to keep on fighting. That was part of why she didn’t want to continue, but there was a second reason as well. This whole situation, especially the kiss, had awakened a side of Yoko she didn’t know existed. For years, her hormones had been suppressed and forgotten. She’d always been a tomboy that wasn’t interested in romance. Sex had been something she’d considered, but nothing that she spent a great deal of time focusing on. With these latest developments though, both were at the forefront of her mind. The battle, challenging as it was, just wasn’t holding her attention much anymore. Even though she loathed to admit it, Yoko would rather have been spending her time doing something else with her new boyfriend.

She wasn’t given a chance to say anything about that right away. Kazuko’s return had a mention of “friends” searching for his sword. Admittedly, Yoko had forgotten about his sword entirely, but she was far more concerned with the mention of friends. She didn’t say anything about it immediately, but her lack of knowledge about the hell butterflies made that comment seem far more noteworthy than it really was. Yoko was now a little bit worried, as she believed that Kazuko had brought other Shinigami with him… and she hadn’t been able to detect them. Outwardly, this showed as nothing more than a frown, though that had been there since Kazuko stopped for a breather anyway. The only other visible result of this was a slight tightening of Yoko’s grip on her sword. She still didn’t trust Shinigami in general. Yes, she trusted Kazuko, but that was because he was a good person. It had no little bearing on her opinion of the average Shinigami. Truth be told though, the signs were so slight that it was likely Kazuko’s sight wasn’t even good enough to notice.

So much of her focus was on trying to (literally) sniff out other possible Shinigami that Yoko missed most of what Kazuko said afterwards. She did catch the bit about wanting to enjoy the sunrise, but her comment on that was held off for a bit by Kazuko’s next technique. She was curious what he was planning that would actually challenge her to follow the movement… but her desire to fight had dwindled so much that she didn’t actually bother to try and detect it. She could have used variant or output to increase her awareness, or pulley to increase her physical speed so she could react faster, but instead she simply did nothing. Kazuko’s method of “attack” was obvious enough, even if the speed it was delivered at was a bit of a shock. Without the aid of any of those techniques, and lacking any real focus, it was indeed faster than Yoko was able to react, but she wasn’t that impressed with it.

The speed itself was impressive yes, but afterimages were something Yoko had seen a thousand times in her shows. As far as the raw speed goes, her upper limits were probably a bit higher than what Kazuko had just used, but the Fullbringer virtually never brought out that speed. The reason why was obvious enough in her experience, and a quick look behind her showed it was definitely the case with Kazuko as well. Speed that high had a horrible drain on stamina, and Kazuko’s ragged breathing was enough to confirm that his technique came with that drawback. Yoko hadn’t been able to follow the movement itself, but her hearing was more than sharp enough to hear the wind whistling by her ears… and there were the signs of exhaustion coming from her boyfriend.

When Yoko turned to face the Shinigami, her face showed mixed emotions. On the one hand, she was a bit impressed with the speed, but her expression was dominated by concern. There were many techniques in Yoko’s arsenal that could produce similar enhancements in terms of raw power or speed, but she had opted not to use them because of the drawbacks. It seemed that Kazuko had no such qualms about pushing himself far too hard, which was a real shame. Yoko needed to put a stop to this fight if she wanted her boyfriend to still be in one piece by the time they were done. It didn’t even matter that she was massively holding back, because the vice-captain was just pushing himself so hard.

At this point, she couldn’t care less about the points system she had talked about a few moments ago, or the sunrise, or anything really. All of her concern was focused on preventing Kazuko from doing something stupid. He was no good to her if he was too tired to even embrace her, and it seemed that the Shinigami was going to wind up in that state fairly soon. Their spar needed to be ended, and she was going to ensure that it was over. Without the aid of his afterimage technique, Kazuko’s remaining movements weren’t terribly hard to follow, nor were they incredibly challenging to counter. They were executed swiftly and accurately, but the style wasn’t so bizarre that it couldn’t be predicted. The thrown sword clattered against Yoko’s metal arm before she snagged it out of the air. As for the kick, she simply let Kazuko hit her. That was obvious to both of them, as she didn’t even make an effort to block or dodge it.

Instead of defending herself, Yoko spoke once more. [smear:00ffff]”Good enough for me. Let’s just stop before you hurt yourself too much trying to show off, kay?”[/smear:0000ff:1] As usual, Yoko was rather blunt about what she was thinking, but there was still more on her mind. As a hint of the words that were about to be spoken, she dragged the zipper on her bodysuit down just enough to expose the bit of cleavage that showed above her sports bra. Though she had been blunt up to this point, her next statement took it to a completely different level. [smear:00ffff]”I’d rather just go make out on the couch in the hotel room… if you’re up for it.”[/smear:0000ff] Nervously, she waited for a response. Yes, Yoko was legitimately nervous. Romance was definitely a new thing for her, and words like those last ones had never left her mouth before. Nonetheless, she spoke the truth. Kazuko had impressed her, and at that moment, her desires were more carnal than violent. All that remained was waiting to see whether or not Kazuko was ready and willing to satisfy those desires.